Canada, including Ontario, is facing unprecedented threats to its economic and political sovereignty from the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to use tariffs on Canadian imports in order to force an economic and political union between our countries that Canadians did not ask for and do not want.
We, the residents of Ontario and proud Canadians, are happy to see our political leaders rising in the defence of Canada and rejecting both threats and overtures of union from President Trump. Ontarians clearly support these responses, especially those that strengthen productivity, help Ontario’s businesses succeed, increase quality jobs and thereby ensure our health and prosperity.
These are challenging and unprecedented times. The U.S. is our closest ally but it is also a place with a substantially different political culture to our own. Canadians have nearly 160 years of history as an independent democracy, one of the oldest in the world and one that benefits from thousands of years of Indigenous governance. We believe it’s the role of our democratically elected governments to help everyone thrive, ensure our citizens’ safety and fight threats to our ability to continue to choose our own future.
As we embark on efforts to defend Canada against threats and economic coercion, we must adapt and prepare our governments’ policies so they protect and strengthen what makes us Canadian.
In Ontario, our provincial government plays a key role in this effort. Provincial policies have a huge impact on our health and prosperity. Unprecedented times require unprecedented actions. Ways of thinking, differences and policies that do not protect and strengthen us must be set aside. We need to respond together.
WORKING TOGETHER
Therefore, we, residents of Ontario, agree to:
- Set aside our political differences and work together to build cross-party political consensus for the Priority Provincial Actions listed below.
- Work with all members of the Ontario Legislature to ensure that our Legislature takes these Priority Provincial Actions:
- Make our public health care system effective and resilient. Tough economic times have a big impact on people’s physical and mental health. Our public health care system must be ready to respond. The Province must fix it so that we end hallway healthcare and ensure all Ontarians have access to timely primary care and mental health services.
- Ensure food security. Canadians can no longer count on low-cost U.S. food imports to replace the produce from farmland destroyed by new development. As the guardian of our country’s most versatile farmland, our government must do everything to protect remaining farmland and the ability of our farmers to grow local food. We need to build within existing towns and cities, not on farmers’ fields.
- Ensure there is proper income support for those in need. Tariff-related job losses and higher living costs, especially food costs, will be felt most by those already living close to the edge. We need to make sure we don’t leave them behind.
- Build the housing we need and can afford. The coming economic challenges will make housing affordability even worse. Ontario must pivot to building housing that can be built faster and more cost-effectively and which families can afford. Focus on mid-rise and gentle density homes within towns and cities, especially existing neighbourhoods where infrastructure already exists. Let’s keep housing production going, and assure Ontarians they’ll be housed through this crisis by using stimulus spending to build non-market, non-profit, deeply-affordable homes for families.
- Create a climate resilient future. We can’t wish away the impacts of the climate and biodiversity crises. Doing so will only create greater economic harm. We must protect our precious natural areas and freshwater resources, especially in the Greenbelt, which are invaluable for Ontario’s future sustainability.
- Properly fund our education system. Tough economic times are exactly the time to invest in the future. Education is the future. We need to ensure our children, teachers, schools, colleges and universities have the resources they need to teach and empower young people so that they can build an innovative and prosperous future.
- Reduce costs for municipal taxpayers. Tariffs will increase the costs to municipalities and put pressure on them to raise municipal taxes causing hardship for many residents. Current provincial laws favour developers wanting to build expensive homes in new subdivisions that require expensive infrastructure. This makes the pressure worse. We can’t afford this expensive growth model. The Province must empower municipalities to support cost-effective, affordable housing within our existing towns and cities.
- Direct public funds to actions that help the most people. Tariffs will require the Province to spend large sums of public dollars to help Ontarians. That will require rethinking Ontario’s priorities. It’s time to redirect funding away from expensive projects that do not provide value for money such as private spas, new mega-highways and tunnels under highways. We’ll need these funds for housing, healthcare, education and income support.
- Ask our friends and contacts to endorse and support this Trillium Declaration.
The next few years will be extremely challenging. Promoting these priority actions will help us build a stronger, more resilient and prosperous Ontario.