Toronto's Greenest Mayoral Candidate

Who is the most environmentally responsible politician running for mayor of Toronto?

With less than 90 days before Torontonians elect a new mayor, a growing number of people will be wondering: who is the greenest candidate? To help inform voters the Toronto Environmental Alliance released a mid-campaign report card in July that set out what the top candidates have said on the six key environmental priorities. In the fall, TEA will be releasing a final report card assigning letter grades to all candidates.

While Torontonians wait for these results, it’s also important to consider what candidates have done in the past to help green Toronto. Two candidates, Councillor Rob Ford and Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone, have a voting record on the environment at city hall. In March 2009, TEA released a report card that assessed how councillors voted on eight key environmental issues between January 2007 and early 2009. Ford received an F while Pantalone received an A+.

For Thomson and Rossi, who have never been elected to public office, there is no obvious record to evaluate.

The final top candidate, George Smitherman, has a very distinguished environmental record in his previous position as minister of energy and infrastructure. Smitherman was the main driving force behind passing the Green Energy and Economy Act (GEEA), a piece of legislation that has fundamentally transformed energy policy in the province. Because of Smitherman’s advocacy, Ontario now has one of the most advanced renewable energy policies in the world. If the GEEA lives up to its reputation, it will turn the province into a renewable energy powerhouse, create tens of thousands of green jobs, and potentially kick-start a new green manufacturing sector.

With two mayoral candidates – Pantalone and Smitherman – having strong environmental legacies, it raises the question of whose legacy is better for Toronto.

Answering this question is very challenging. Smitherman helped begin the transformation of our electricity system, an absolutely necessary and vital task if we hope to deal with climate change and smog in Toronto. A year or so earlier, Pantalone helped ensure city council unanimously adopt “Change is in the Air”, the city’s plan to reduce smog and climate change. Smitherman, through the GEEA, ensured that many of the new jobs that would result from installing new renewable power sources would be in Ontario. Pantalone supported and advocated for the city’s sustainable energy strategy to include provisions that would include support for local green manufacturing and local green jobs.

Indeed, those familiar with the above candidates know that either can point to a host of other green initiatives as evidence that their environmental legacy is both extensive and deep. In order to conclude that one specific candidate in greener would require judging one policy more important than another, or would require assessing exactly how vital each candidate was in getting a policy adopted. To state the obvious, these would be very difficult and subjective tasks.

Assuming, then, that it is too difficult to say who has the better environmental legacy, one could look to other actions for guidance. For example, did one candidate support any actions that made things qualitatively worse for the environment? For example, was Smitherman’s support for nuclear power better or worse than Pantalone’s advocacy for the Front Street extension (which could have led to increased car use)? How much should Smitherman’s legacy be tarnished by the fact that his government failed to live up to his party’s promise in 2003 to phase out coal generating stations by 2007? How much should Pantalone’s legacy be tarnished by the fact that the City of Toronto did not meet its 70 per cent waste diversion target by 2010?

One could go on and on.

The simple fact is that the two candidates who have the best environmental records have much to be proud of and a few things to be ashamed of. While many will have an opinion about which candidate has a better record, it would be difficult to reach an unbiased conclusion. In short, looking at the past to figure out who may be the greenest candidate is no simple matter.

Which brings us back to the future, specifically the environmental report card TEA will release in early October. While it may be difficult to judge candidates on their past performance, it is much easier to judge them on a survey that asks how they will address six environmental priorities. With this report card in hand and an understanding of what candidates have or haven’t done in the past, voters should have enough information to figure out who will be the best at greening the city.