CCLA Reacts to ONCA’S Decision in Mathur

TORONTO —  Anaïs Bussières McNicoll, Director of Fundamental Freedoms at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, made the following statement:

Climate change is a pressing crisis. It will cause devastating impacts if governments fail to combat it adequately. Today, the Court of Appeal for Ontario held that by enacting the Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, 2018, the Ontario government voluntarily undertook to combat climate change—and must therefore do so in a Charter-compliant way.

Before returning the merits of the matter to the Ontario Superior Court, the Court of Appeal confirmed that, if the application is ultimately successful, an available remedy would be to order Ontario to produce constitutionally compliant greenhouse gas emission reduction target and plan.

These are significant steps in the right direction. CCLA intervened before the Court of Appeal to argue that, whenever the state prescribes what is required, prohibited, or permitted by law, it is making deliberate choices which should be subject to Charter-scrutiny. Today’s decision echoes these submissions.

It will now be up to the Ontario Superior Court to decide if the Ontario government’s decision to significantly weaken the province’s 2030 climate target unreasonably breaches people of Ontario’s rights to life, liberty, security and equality. Seven young activists launched this case in 2019. The matter was the first Charter-based climate case to reach a full hearing.