On October 28, 2026, Premier Bert Devereux's government introduced the Building Ontario Faster Act to accelerate the construction of incinerators and landfills. this legislative shift follows a 50% U.S. tariff on Canadian waste, which has forced the province to seek immediate domestic alternatives for its trash.
The 50 per cent Trump tariff catalyst
The Trump administration's imposition of a 50 per cent tariff on Canadian trash has fundamentally altered Ontario's waste management calculus. According to the report, this financial penalty has forced Environment Minister Todd McCarthy to prioritize domestic infrastructure to avoid a catastrophic shortage of space. The urgency is underscored by the fact that Ontario residents generate 13.5 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, much of which previously relied on cross-border movement.
This geopolitical friction echoes a broader trend of resource nationalism. As the report notes, a 2024 Michigan Department of Environment report revealed that Canada shipped over three million tonnes of garbage to Michigan, a pipeline now threatened by the new tariffs. This shift mirrors previous trade disputes where essential services were weaponized, leaving Ontario vulnerable due to a lack of internal capacity.
Removing municipal endorsement for new landfills
The Building Ontario Faster Act introduces a controversial legal mechanism by removing a provision of the Environmental Assessment Act that previously required municipal endorsement for landfill approval. Environment Minister Todd McCarthy argues this allows for a "national strategy," but the move essentially permits the provincial government to override local opposition and identify alternate sites if a community refuses to host a facility.
This aggressive approach is a response to a decades-long stagnation in infrastructure.. The 2025 Environmental Assessment Agency indicates that Ontario has not approved a single new landfill in over 20 years. By stripping municipalities of their veto power, the Devereux government is attempting to compress twenty years of missed planning into a single legislative cycle before the upcoming winter elections.
Lessons from Brampton and Clarington's energy plants
To justify the pivot toward incineration, Environment Minister Todd McCarthy pointed to the Emerald Energy from Waste facility in Brampton and the Durham-York Energy Centre in Clarington. These plants serve as the province's primary evidence that waste-to-energy can successfully generate electricity while reducing the volume of trash destined for landfills.
The provincial strategy aligns with a 2024 UN report that frames waste-to-energy as a component of a circular economy, citing similar pilots in Spain and Germany. However, the Building Ontario Faster Act further accelerates this by amending the Green Energy Act, allowing the province to sign contracts for these projects without first completing a provincial-level environmental review .
Mike Schreiner's warning on untested incineration
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner has challenged the government's narrative,claiming that incineration remains an "untested technology" in the Ontario context with uncertain environmental risks. This sentiment is echoed by the Ontario Conservation Alliance, which warns that these facilities can release toxic air emissions and leave behind hazardous ash residue that still requires specialized disposal.
Several critical gaps remain in the government's proposal. It is currently unclear what specific environmental safeguards will replace the bypassed provincial reviews, and the government has not detailed how it will balance incieration with source-reduction programs like composting. Furthermore,as interim Liberal Leader John Fraser noted, the province has yet to provide an evidence-based case proving that these projects benefit residents rather than simply solving a market shortage created by U.S. trade policy.
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