The votes are in … except they’re not. But Ontario’s party platforms are here, and we’ve funnelled them through a climate justice filter to make it easier for you to assess them. 

This provincial election, Toronto350 is focusing on three issues that intersect with climate: housing affordability, transit accessibility, and food affordability. Here’s how we’ve graded each party’s promises against what we should be striving for when voting for climate justice.

Housing affordability

Green party: A

• Expand zoning to increase housing supply
• Implement vacancy and rent controls on all units
• Freeze urban boundaries
• Launch a green retrofit program
• Place a 20% tax on the purchase of a third home, with increasing amounts for each additional property
• Build 100,000 affordable rental units and maintain an affordable housing supply
• Require a minimum percentage of 20% affordable units for all housing projects above a certain size
• Create a seed fund of $100M for co-operative housing 
• Build 60,000 permanent supportive housing units over the next decade through partnerships with public, private, and non-profit housing organizations
• Work with municipalities to implement a province-wide vacant home tax
• Introduce an anti-flipping tax to reduce quick turnaround sales by speculators
• Implement robust penalties for renovictions when used as a pretext for evicting tenants

Ontario Progressive Conservative: F

• Move some provincial agencies out of Toronto to save on real estate costs and bring jobs to other regions
• Speed up project approvals to get more shovels in the ground faster
• Build 1.5 million new homes over the next 10 years

NDP: A-

• End exclusionary zoning
• Implement an annual speculation and vacancy tax
• Reintroduce rent control for all apartments by scrapping vacancy decontrol
• Assist tenants with rent with a portable housing benefit
• Ensure prompt and fair hearings with the Landlord and Tenant Board
• Build 100,000 units of social housing over the next decade
• Update 260,000 social housing units to extend their lifespan

Liberal party: D

• Build 1.5 million new homes in Ontario over the next 10 years
• Introduce new taxes on vacant homes in urban areas and developers sitting on land
• Deliver province-wide rent control

Transit accessibility and expansion

Green party: B+

• Restore a 50% provincial cost sharing agreement for transit
• Cut transit fares by 50% for three months
• Cancel Highway 413 and cancel the widening of Highway 417
• Create a dedicated, toll-free truck lane on Highway 407
• Expand electric vehicle charging stations in parking lots, transit stops, and along highways
• Add 4,000 electric buses by 2030 and electrify transit provided by Metrolinx
• Fund the Northlander passenger rail expansion to Cochrane in northern Ontario

Ontario Progressive Conservative: D-

• Spend $158.8 billion over 10 years on highways, transit, and hospitals
• Build Highway 413 across Halton, Peel, and York regions
• Move forward with the Bradford Bypass
• Widen Highway 401 east from Pickering
• Continue work on the Ontario Line, the Sheppard subway extension, the Eglinton Crosstown West extension to the Toronto Pearson Airport, weekday GO trips between London and Union Station
• Fund passenger rail service to northeastern Ontario
• Provide $91 million for electric vehicle chargers
• Maintain and grow Ontario’s auto sector by building at least 400,000 electric and hybrid vehicles by 2030

NDP: B-

• Restore funding for municipal public transit and paratransit systems 
• Introduce fare integration across municipal borders
• Implement a two-hour flat rate fare across municipal transit in the GTA
• Increase municipal participation on Metrolinx boards
• Restore the Ontario Northlander between Toronto and Cochrane
• Fill the gap left by Greyhound
• Require Metrolinx to make surplus lands available for social and affordable housing

Liberal party: B+

• Cut public transit fares to $1 per ride for one year and $40 for monthly passes on all public transit in Ontario until January 2024
• Reverse the selling of railways
• Cancel the Highway 413 project, and reinvest savings in school repairs
• Reassess the proposed Bradford Bypass’ environmental impact
• Expand GO service and electrification, delivering two-way, all-day service throughout the GTA while adding 10 new stations
• Provide a $500 rebate for e-bikes
• Expand cycling lanes and trails and make it easier to find and park bikes
• Make it cheaper to install winter tires

Food affordability

Green party: A

• Double the Ontario Disability Support Payment (ODSP) 
• Set measurable Ontario food purchas­ing targets for all public institutions
• Implement a school food program to ensure students have access to healthy, local, sustainable food
• Support community food hubs to empower people to grow and make their own food, improve food literacy, and support community gardens and kitchens
• Freeze urban boundaries to stop urban sprawl and protect farming, water, and natural heritage in the Greater Golden Horseshoe
• Move toward a Universal Basic Income guarantee for all Ontarians

Ontario Progressive Conservative: F

• Increase ODSP by 5%
• Invest $10 million in 2022–23 to establish a Food Security and Supply Chain Fund to strengthen the province’s food supply, grow the workforce, and expand the agri‐food sector
• Enhance the Low-Income Individuals and Families Tax Credit, boosting the maximum benefit from $850 to $875 and allowing people making up to $50,000 to qualify, up from a limit of $38,000
• Invest an additional $5.5 million in 2022–23 to extend the Ontario Community Support Program, which delivers meals, medicine, and other essential items to low‐income seniors and people with disabilities

NDP: B-

• Increase ODSP by 20% and legislate raises indexed to inflation
• Create a provincial food strategy that supports agriculture jobs in food processing, transportation, biofuels, and retail 
• Help first-time farmers with mentorship and financial advice
• Regulate the price of gas to lower the cost of shipping food
• Reintroduce a Universal Basic Income pilot
• Stop paving over farmland
• Encourage responsible development within existing urban boundaries
• Cancel Highway 413 and the Bradford Bypass
• Raise the minimum wage to $20 in 2026, with stable, predictable $1-an-hour increases annually

Liberal party: C+

• Increase ODSP by 20%
• Remove 8% HST on prepared food under $20
• Increase minimum wage to $16 an hour 
• Cancel the Highway 413 project that would pave over important wetlands and farmland
• Reintroduce a Universal Basic Income pilot

Climate change

Green party: A-

• Cut carbon pollution in half by 2030 and hit real net-zero by 2045
• Increase the federal carbon fee system price by $25 until it reaches $300/tonne in 2032 
• Return all carbon fee revenues collected from individuals to individuals as dividends
• Eliminate fossil fuels from electricity generation, aiming to phase out fossil gas by 2030
• Put a price on greenhouse gas pollution
• Provide grants and other incentives to improve the energy efficiency of buildings 
• Electrify the transportation system
• Increase demand for new low-emission vehicles with cash incentives up to $10,000 for buying a fully electric vehicle and $1,000 for an e-bike or used electric vehicle
• Power Ontario with 100% renewable energy, based on an energy supply mix that achieves greenhouse gas reduction targets and creates local jobs

Ontario Progressive Conservative: F

• Accelerate the development of the low‐carbon hydrogen economy to create jobs, attract investment, and reduce emissions
• Support investments to help make the province a world‐leading producer of clean low‐emission steel to help build hybrid and electric vehicles 

NDP: A-

• Reduce Ontario’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 
• Establish a new cap-and-trade system 
• Offer up to $10,000 incentives for zero-emission vehicles, excluding luxury vehicles
• Expand the Greenbelt
• Ban non-medical single-use plastics by 2024
• Introduce an energy-efficient building retrofit program 
• Introduce a cap and trade system for corporate polluters
• Ensure at least 25% of cap and trade revenue supports rural, northern, and low-income families
• Expand renewable energy
• Work with universities, colleges, unions, and employers to fast-track workers with industry experience
• Provide tuition grants for programs geared toward expanding the net-zero economy
• Create Ontario’s first comprehensive Zero-Emissions Vehicles (ZEVs) Strategy
• Build out a network of charging stations across Ontario
• Plant one billion trees by 2030

Liberal party: B+

• Cut carbon and methane pollution by more than 50% by 2030
• Create a methane performance standard and speed up the replacement of natural gas with clean energy
• Improve carbon pricing for businesses and create a new carbon offset system
• Provide businesses with predictable support to reduce carbon pollution
• Transition to a fully clean electricity supply
• Ban new natural gas plants and phase out our reliance on it
• Eliminate connection fees for rooftop solar charging panels
• Support Indigenous and Northern clean energy projects
• Pursue green hydrogen generation, transportation, and storage
• Support businesses replacing carbon-emitting fuels with hydrogen
• Plant 100 million trees a year over the next eight years
• Create 2,000 green jobs for young people

Want more information on these issues and others? Here’s where you can see full party platforms:

General party websites

Ontario Green Party

Ontario NDP

Ontario Liberal Party

Ontario Conservative Party

Don’t forget to vote on June 2! Here’s where you can find your local candidates and voting location by electoral district.