October 8, 2018. Cap and…

October 8, 2018.

Cap and Trade -Help Desk, Cap and Trade Branch
77 Wellesley Street West, 10th Floor Ferguson Block
Toronto, ON M7A 2T5
Canada. CThelp@ontario.ca

Re: Bill 4 Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, 2018 ERO #013-3738

Dear Staff,
I am an independent commentator. All of the words and ideas herein contained are my own and are not meant to be reflective of any organization or committee that I may now or ever have served on. I am a life long farmer with an interest in public issues.
Cap and Trade has been a controversial issue in the agricultural community. While a large general farm organization favoured Cap and Trade as the lesser of two evils when compared to a carbon tax many farmers were skeptical and were concerned about the costs of this programme. I had the opportunity to hear a presentation on cap and trade by OMAFRA Staff who concluded that many sectors would be hit hard by higher costs and that we should not expect any significant revenue from carbon sequestration activities such as no till, forage production, and reforestation. Many in the public were concerned that cap and trade would benefit wealthy companies because they could buy a way to keep doing what they were doing and pass the cost on to us.
Fairness is always important. It is presumed that those who bought credits will have their money refunded.
As long as there has been an Earth climate has changed. Therefore the concept of “climate change” is really not new. It does, however, not seem reasonable that government legislation or regulation would necessarily result in a better climate. What exactly would a better climate be anyway? Perhaps the focus should be on adaption.
It is understood that Bill 4 commits the Province to develop a new climate change strategy. I look forward to seeing what that is.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this extremely important issue. Public comment is a vital part of our democracy.