February 13th, 2019

Paying more for a weak plan: Ford’s new carbon tax

QUEENS PARK — Doug Ford’s new climate change scheme is a carbon tax that would have Ontarians paying more, but getting a weak plan for their money.

Ford’s proposed plan charges a carbon tax of $20 per tonne, rising to $50 per tonne by 2022. That comes as people are already on the hook for liabilities from Doug Ford’s cap and trade market shut down, plus footing the $30-million bill for Ford’s ongoing legal challenge against the nearly identical federal carbon tax.

“People are already footing the bill for Ford’s politically-motivated legal battle against the carbon tax, and now Ford has written up virtually the same carbon tax plan,” said NDP Climate Change critic Peter Tabuns.

“Our children deserve to inherit a province with clean lakes, rivers and air, and we owe it to them to do everything we can to stem the effects of devastating climate change. Sadly, Ford’s new scheme doesn’t put Ontario on a greener path. In fact, this plan doesn’t budge Ontario’s emissions targets, which are still among the worst in the world.”

The NDP favours an effective and transparent cap-and-trade market to reduce emissions and put the burden for change onto big polluters rather than everyday people.

Since most of Ford’s plan replicates the federal carbon tax, it’s completely unclear now which of the two plans will go ahead – leading to even more uncertainty for people, business and investors.

“Ontario absolutely can be a global leader in climate change with a comprehensive strategy that creates thousands of good green jobs,” said Tabuns. “ But we’re running out of time to take effective action on climate change, and Doug Ford is wasting month after month playing politics with our environment.”