I am proud to live, work,…

I am proud to live, work, and pay taxes in Ontario. I believe that Ontario could be on the cusp of greatness in the world, and a leader on the global stage, and I believe this can happen if we make a choice now to do something truly innovative.

The cap and trade system is such an innovation. It allowed us to drive millions of dollars towards renovations for private and public buildings, infrastructure and transit across the province. This has already had significant benefits for job creation, reducing costs for public institutions in terms of heating and cooling (thus reducing costs for taxpayers), and provided Ontario an opportunity to lead on taking action on climate change and making polluters pay. All this for essentially no cost to taxpayers.

Cancelling cap and trade is going to be hugely expensive for Ontarians, puts the government at risk of being sued by companies who have spent millions, and creates distrust for those who might otherwise invest in Ontario due to its lack of policy stability.

Putting a price on carbon is essential to staving off future climate disaster, and is also critical to developing Ontario into a knowledge powerhouse for the green economy.

I cannot stress enough that cap and trade should not be cancelled - you owe this to Ontario tax payers, to the economy, and to the planet.