Should the government's climate change strategy include the advice of the province's Environmental Commissioner, or not? That question is left unanswered after last week's release of cabinet mandate letters by Premier Kathleen Wynne, which inadvertently included the release of early drafts for the letters to four ministries.
In particular, the letter for Environment and Climate Change Minister Glen Murray included instructions to work with the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, an instruction that didn't make it into the final draft.
Wynne's letter to Murray, as distributed to reporters Thursday, directs him in part: "Building on, and supporting, the most current science, lead the development of a new long-term climate change strategy for Ontario."
The earlier letter, however, reads: "Building on, and supporting, the most current science and the analysis and recommendations of the Environmental Commissioner lead the development of a new long term climate change strategy for Ontario." (Emphasis added.)
The government attributes the difference to a simple error in handling the drafts for four ministries: Aside from Murray's letter, the ministries of Health, Education, and Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs were also affected.
Wynne's cabinet was installed on June 24, less than two weeks after the Liberals were returned to Queen's Park with a slim majority. Ministers had not been given formal mandate letters until last Thursday, but ministers were hardly in the dark about what their jobs would entail: For the most part, they were picking up tasks that were only abandoned in May when the government fell.
Mandate letters are traditionally documents telling ministers what their objectives are for the government's tenure in office. Wynne, who released the letters in Sudbury on Thursday, called the move a matter of transparency and accountability.
The current Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Gord Miller, has recently criticized the government for failing to take the necessary steps to combat global climate change.
"British Columbia has brought in a carbon tax, Quebec has implemented a cap-and-trade system for carbon credits," Miller said in July. "Meanwhile, Ontario appears to have lost the ambition it once had and won’t even look at directives to ensure more compact urban development or a serious commitment to using electricity for transportation."
The excised language in Murray's mandate letter could have given Miller, and opposition MPPs, more ammunition to blast the government as it tackles climate change over the next four years.
Murray's office, however, says that the changes to Murray's mandate letter weren't about excluding one of their more public critics.
"We value the oversight, advice and contribution of the Environmental Commissioner," said Lucas Malinowski, spokesman in Murray's office. "The reason the reference was removed in the final version was for consistency across Ministries— there are several public appointees that will play an important role, but they aren't specifically mentioned in the Premier's mandates to the Ministers."
Minister of Agriculture Jeff Leal also had a substantial change in the text of his letter, which was changed to clarify and strengthen Leal's authority to make regulations controlling neonicotinoid pesticides and improve the health of bees and other pollinators.

Mandate letters: The case of the missing Environmental Commissioner

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