Former Premier Kathleen Wynne said nothing about imposing cap-and-trade on Ontarians when she ran in the 2014 election that brought her to power.
Following her victory, she said she had no plans to introduce a carbon tax, before introducing cap-and-trade, a carbon tax by another name.
Premier Doug Ford on Wednesday tabled legislation he promised during the 2018 election campaign that brought him to power to cancel cap-and-trade.
By so doing, he has canceled a $2 billion annual charge on the people and businesses of Ontario and announced he will pay for it by canceling programs cap-and-trade was to fund.
Thus, Ford and the PCs, who made their intentions clear prior to the vote, are acting with a political integrity lacking when the Wynne Liberals introduced cap-and-trade by stealth.
Under cap-and-trade, the Liberals gave away or sold a gradually declining number of pollution permits to companies emitting industrial greenhouse gases, with those companies passing along the cost to the public in higher retail prices for goods and services.
Many companies that participated sustained no financial losses.
Those that did will be provided compensation in the millions, not billions, of dollars.
True, some companies may sue the government to recover losses.
But even if Ford was compelled to reimburse the entire $2.8 billion businesses have paid for carbon credits since cap-and-trade started last year, Ontarians would still save $5.2 billion over four years by the elimination of this $2 billion a year tax imposed on them.
The PCs say this will save the average Ontario family $260 a year, contributing a 4.3 cent per liter saving toward their election promise of lowering the cost of gasoline by 10 cents per liter.
Financial Accountability Officer Peter Weltman is investigating the cost of canceling cap-and-trade at the request of NDP leader Andrea Horwath.
Ford should fully co-operate with Weltman to demonstrate openness and transparency and to show the cost of what the Liberals did.
Finally, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will impose a carbon tax on Ontario because Ford is canceling cap-and-trade.
It will be interesting to see him run on that in next year’s federal election.
Read more at Toronto Sun
Good Bye Cap & Trade no one in Toronto will miss it Good Bye Carbon Tax and Good Bye Liberals and Al Bore
Just like Julia Gillard.
Aug 16, 2010 – PM says no carbon tax under her govt. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said there will not be a tax on carbon while she leads the federal government. … “There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead,” she told Network Ten.