From Environmental Commissioner to Toronto City Councilor

This episode features a conversation with Dianne Saxe, an environmental lawyer for over 50 years, who became Ontario’s 3rd (and last) independent Environmental Commissioner in 2015 with the unanimous support of all members of the Legislative Assembly. Before being fired by Premier Doug Ford in 2019, Saxe and her team produced some 17 climate, environment, and energy reports and conducted hundreds of public educational presentations. Not content to merely investigate and speak truth to power she encouraged people to become more climate change literate and engaged in the fight for the urgent changes required to protect people and the planet. In the years following Ford’s elimination of her position 2019, Saxe has taken a deep dive into electoral politics, becoming Deputy Leader of the Ontario Green Party in 2021 and a candidate for the Green Party in the Toronto riding of University/Rosedale in the 2022 provincial election. While unsuccessful provincially, Saxe won a seat on Toronto City Council representing University-Rosedale, or Ward 11, in November 2022. With her experience as an environmental lawyer, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Deputy Leader of the Ontario Green Party and now a municipal councillor in Canada’s largest city, Dianne Saxe has a unique vantage point from which to view our unfolding climate emergency and the actions required to address it. https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/PH-Resource-List-for-From-Environmental-Commissioner-to-Toronto-City-Councillor-Perspectives-on-the-Climate-Emergency-with-Dianne-Saxe-July-27-2023.pdf