Ontario engineers have taken what they say is an unprecedented step in sending an open protest letter to Premier Kathleen Wynne over the provincial government’s failure to draw upon their professional expertise as it rolls out a major new climate change policy.
Sandro Peruzza, CEO of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, said the decision to send the letter earlier this month comes after the group was “ignored” in its effort to weigh in on how the province can shift to green energy sources without major impact to the electric power market and the local economy. The final straw was the government’s refusal to include an engineer among those who drafted Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan, released June 8. It includes a cap-and-trade system to cut carbon emissions.