Transforming Ontario’s Energy Sector: Lobby preparations and then breakfast at Queen’s Park

Transforming Ontario’s Energy Sector

Sunday, February 25, 2024
6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Friends House, 60 Lowther Ave
Toronto, ON,  M5R 1C7

Monday, February 26, 2024
7:30 am to 9:00 am
Queen’s Park, 110 Wellesley St W
Toronto ON, M7A 1A5

Registration
Opens January 6 and closes at noon Thursday, February 22, 2024 as we are required to give Queen’s Park security all names three days in advance. Register here. 

Registration fees
$20 for the entire in person event regardless if you attend all or just parts of it.
It includes snacks the night before and breakfast at Queen’s Park.
Free with Promo Code

Donations welcome
Our deepest gratitude to our donors. We fundraise well in advance of all our events to make sure everyone can afford to come. Our last event of this nature collected $500 and cost us $1500 or about $50 per person.

Sunday, February 25, 2024 – Training
Friend’s House, 60 Lowther Ave, Toronto, ON M5R 1C7
6:00 pm begin gathering
6:30 pm preparing for the  breakfast lobbying event and the full day.  Lobby training, laser talks, motivational interviewing and the lobby schedule.

Monday, February 26, 2024 – the breakfast and day at Queens Park
7:30 am to 9:00 am
Queen’s Park Dining Room
Guest speakers: Evan Wiseman of  The Atmospheric Fund, Dr. Jane Pritchard and special youth guest Maggie Fu.
Facilitator: Vanessa Fiore
Plan for the time it will take to get through Queen’s Park security and don’t forget your photo I.D.
Lobbying throughout the day at Queen’s Park

COVID and Influenza precautions for in-person participants
– We will be watching the Health Unit recommendations closely and accordingly
– The venues are relatively large to the expected number of people
– Masking will be celebrated.
– Sanitizing hands before eating will be celebrated too.
– It is highly recommended that you keep you COVID vaccinations up-to-date.
– Please do not attend if you test positive for COVID and/or are symptomatic.

Are you coming from out of town and looking for a place to stay. Our training venue, Friend’s House, 60 Lowther Ave, Toronto, ON M5R 1C7 has lodging available.

Please contact lyn.adamson9@gmail.com for how to get connected and indicate you are registering for this event.

For the training the night before at Friends House there is parking at the side of the house on Bedford or street parking.

For the breakfast at Queen’s Park here are two websites

• https://spothero.com/destination/toronto/queens-park-parking
• https://en.parkopedia.ca/parking/queens_park/?arriving=202402211030&leaving=202402211230

If you have questions and would like to know more about this event join our Onboarding Calls on Sunday nights in February at 7 pm. Register here. 

We will also have two optional calls before the event at  8 pm Thursday, February 22, 2024 and 11 am Friday, February 23, 2024. Anyone who has registered will receive invitations to those calls.

Repeatedly get 30 signatures to this petition and submit it to an MPP to read it at Queen’s Park.  Petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to Transform Ontario’s Energy Sector

Our ask

1. In light of recent reports by the RBC Climate Action Institute, Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors, and the Sustainability Solutions Group, pause the expansion of methane-fired electricity generation, and commence winding down its use to stand-by ‘peaker’ plants only.
2. Expand and accelerate the procurement of electricity from renewable sources, while
   – lifting the moratorium on off-shore wind power,
   – negotiating increased power transfers from Quebec and
   – pursuing more conservation, demand management, and distributed energy networks.
3. Support the Ontario Energy Board’s recent decision recognizing the current energy transition, and its implications for methane gas connections to new homes.

Notre demande

1. À la lumière des récents rapports de l’Institut d’action climatique RBC, de Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors et du Sustainability Solutions Group, interrompre l’expansion de la production d’électricité à partir de méthane et commencer à réduire progressivement son utilisation afin de n’avoir que des centrales de secours pour des périodes de pointe.
2. Développer et accélérer l’achat d’électricité provenant de sources renouvelables,
   – en levant le moratoire sur l’énergie éolienne en mer,
   – en négociant une augmentation des transferts d’électricité du Québec et
   – en poursuivant davantage les efforts d’économies d’énergie, de gestion de la demande et de réseaux d’énergie décentralisée.
3. Soutenir la récente décision de la Commission de l’énergie de l’Ontario reconnaissant la transition énergétique actuelle et ses implications pour les raccordements de gaz méthane aux nouveaux domiciles.

Clarifications:

Methane-fired electricity generation: Is also known as natural gas electricity plants or fossil gas-powered electricity power plants.

Distributed energy networks: Refer to locally-owned facilities for electricity generation, control and storage. 

Methane: Is a significantly more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. 

Transforming Ontario’s Energy Sector Feb. 2024 Conference Booklet 

Summary of September 2023 event

This gathering was made possible by various civil society groups, including the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) Canada, Climate Fast, For Our Grandchildren, and the Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign. Jamie West, the MPP for Sudbury was the cohost of the breakfast.

Empowered citizens were calling on the government of Ontario to accelerate the reduction of GHGs in Ontario and pause the expansion of methane-fired electricity in Ontario.

The breakfast meeting was marked by powerful speeches, with Zoe Keary-Matzner from Fridays For Future TO and Dr. Mili Roy, Co-Chair of CAPE Ontario, and the Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign, delivering excellent addresses. The event was skilfully emceed by Vanessa Fiore, a youth CCL leader in Canada, who has been part of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada since she was just 16 years old.

Another youth at the event, 10-year-old Robert at Children’s Climate Championship, gathered signatures on his “Trick or Treat” pledge and produced this excellent 2.5 minute video about his experience and hopes.

One of the highlights of the day was when MPP Jamie West and MPP Mike Schreiner read petitions from CCL Canada into the official government Hansard. Additionally, the citizens had the opportunity to engage with two other environmentally influential MPPs, including NDP Environment Critic Peter Tabuns and Liberal Environment Critic Mary Margaret McMahon, as well as MPPs France Gelinas, Krysten Tam-Wong, and Mike Mantha. Several other MPPs were lobbied throughout the day as well. Thus, these are not the final numbers and names.

Cathy Orlando, the Director of Programs at Citizens’ Climate International and the Canadian Director of CCL, summed up the urgency of the situation, emphasizing the need to avoid undoing the progress made by phasing out coal in Ontario. She highlighted the potential harm of expanding methane-fired electricity in the province and the tragic waste of hundreds of millions of dollars each year, as revealed in a recent RBC report.

This event at Queen’s Park showcased the power of citizen engagement and advocacy in addressing pressing environmental issues and underscored the importance of collaboration between civil society and elected representatives.

These citizens have already begun making plans to return to Queen’s Park in late February and will continue to educate fellow citizens and their parliamentarians about how we can save Ontarians hundreds of millions of dollars every year and lives if we don’t expand methane-fired electricity in the province.