The Doug Ford government in Ontario was in full denial mode last week after a Toronto blog reported that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry had instructed employees not to mention climate change on social media—and published a screen shot that proved the point.
“Hi all,” read the internal email from Ontario Parks Social Media Coordinator Anne MacLachlan, first reported by BlogTO. “Per Premier’s Office direction, we are not allowed to mention climate change in social media content at this time.”
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“Please ensure any staff with access to a park social media account, as well as park superintendents, are aware of this direction,” MacLachlan continued. “We will let you know about any change in direction on this.”
Laryssa Waler-Hetmanczuk, Ford’s executive director of communications, said she’d never instructed anyone to keep climate change references out of their social media posts. “I’m responsible for communications, including social media, for the Premier’s Office,” she told BlogTO. “I’m not sure who said this or why, but it’s categorically untrue.”
The blog followed up a day later, reporting that several Ontario Parks employees had “reached out to confirm the existence of this email.” And it published a second missive issued August 17 by Lisa Sarracini, director of the communications services branch at the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.
“I’m writing to provide some recent direction my team has received from Cabinet Office, regarding social media content,” she wrote. “As some of you will now have heard, Premier’s Office is reviewing and approving all social media content, from all ministry channels,” and “PO has indicated they will not be approving any posts mentioning climate change at this time.”
The email went to at least 15 ministry staffers—including the author of the email BlogTO had previously published.
Citing an internal memo obtained by The Canadian Press, National Observer reported the province had “launched an internal investigation to determine why false information was circulating and strengthen security procedures”.
“Integrity, accuracy, professionalism, and the highest possible ethical standards are core principles of our work,” the memo stated. “In order to ensure greater trust and integrity within the system, an internal audit is already under way to strengthen our security procedures.”
The episode drew a sharp response from federal Liberals and Ontario Green Party leader Mike Schreiner.
“After Ontarians & Cdns have experienced extreme weather linked to climate change—extreme heat, forest fires, flooding—the Ontario gov’t appears to be muzzling @OntarioParks by banning words ‘climate change’,” tweeted Environment and Climate Minister Catherine McKenna. “Time to focus on climate action. We have a plan. Ontario has no plan.”
“A new twist in the Conservative approach to #climatechange. Here’s their direction to @OntarioParks,” tweeted Gerald Butts, principal secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“This will prove self-defeating,” replied David McLaughlin, the former chief of staff to then-PM Brian Mulroney and one-time president of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, who now advises the Manitoba government on its climate strategy.
Schreiner called the censorship reports “appalling”, and tweeted that he’d written to provincial Environment Minister Rod Phillips to clarify.
“It’s chilling to think that in 2018, when you literally have forest fires in B.C. and Ontario (and) across the country costing human life, the environment, hundreds of millions of dollars…that you have a government that would be muzzling scientists and telling public servants that you’re not allowed to speak truth,” Schreiner told Observer. “It’s shocking, actually.”
Schreiner initially said he’d not heard back from Phillips, but the minister replied late Friday evening that “our government takes climate change very seriously and we understand the importance of taking steps to ensure we protect our environment.” He added that “we care a great deal about the environment and remain committed to take action to encourage lower emissions.”
While the censorship controversy swirled, the province was still facing the economic fallout from its decision to cancel the previous Wynne government’s carbon pricing and clean energy programs. In a mid-month op ed in the U.S. business journal Forbes, Energy Innovation’s Silvio Marcacci and the Pembina Institute’s Sara Hastings-Simon warned that the moves would cost the province billions of dollars, eliminate thousands of jobs attached to the more than 750 renewable energy projects the Ford team cancelled, and undercut investors’ confidence that Ontario is a stable place to do business.
“The decisions made by Ontario’s government risk missing out on long-term economic opportunities to transform the province’s energy consumption footprint, as well as to transition the economy into one that manufactures the products which are valued in a low-carbon future,” they wrote.
“In one fell swoop, Ontario’s government has dramatically slashed a source of funding for clean transportation infrastructure to help consumers lower travel costs, erased hundreds of clean energy projects to help consumers reduce electricity costs, dimmed the prospects for jobs and economic growth from cleantech industries, and took a major step backwards in making the province an attractive climate for business and investment today—and into the future.”
Meanwhile, the Globe and Mail reports that one of Ford’s signature campaign promises is going down in flames, at least for the moment, with the province’s electricity costs increasing for the first time in 18 months. It’s just a marginal increase of 0.3% in July from the same period last year, and it reflects the expiry of electricity rebates introduced by the previous government.
