Over the past decade,…

Over the past decade, Ontario has invested significantly in developing the competitive advantage of producing 96% of its electricity from non-emitting sources. Our electric energy is cleaner than most other province's, cleaner than EVERY US state's and cleaner than almost every other country's. We need to be capitalizing on this competitive advantage and advocating for a price on carbon everywhere. While tariffs and protectionism for local industry are not popular, there is absolute global recognition that climate change is real and that putting a price on carbon is the most effective means of reducing carbon emissions. Even oil companies are asking for a price on carbon, so that, with the price on carbon, they are on a level playing field with renewable energy sources. Through global carbon pricing, we are able to attach a greater cost to imports that we aren't able to attach for wage imbalances or other social factors under free trade arrangements. This gives Ontario industry a price advantage.

Further to this, Ontario has almost no fossil fuel resources naturally occurring within the province. We are nearly at a 100% trade deficit on oil products, gasoline, diesel and natural gas meaning that almost every hard earned dollar that is spent on oil and gas leaves our province and goes to support other economies. The multiplier effect of keeping dollars within the local economy is well studied by economists. Keeping money in our local economy is critical to jobs, and growth. Pricing carbon creates more opportunities to justify fuel switching to our clean and plentiful electricity. This is electricity which we can and do produce within the province with renewable energy resources. This keeps more dollars in our local economies and drives economic growth. Rather than lobbying to restore the "Alberta Advantage", we need to be advocating for Ontario.

Climate change is happening, there are very real effects being felt in Ontario. We can either pay more in the long run through increased insurance, health care and business disruption costs, or we can pay a lesser amount now through carbon pricing and continue to build our competitive advantage. The renewable based economy is the economy of the future, Ontario is currently a leader in this. Please don't abandon our position to rejoin the laggards.