In a free market system,…

In a free market system, companies, industry and individuals decide on what goods, services and raw materials they need to buy, and how through investments they can improve their processes and technology to reduce their costs. This is true for individuals investing in new technology like LED light bulbs to reduce their electricity costs and companies reducing their costs through new investments.

Raw materials are not free. Wood, ore, oil, water, etc. are not free for the taking by industry. Negative environmental impacts should also not be free. Instead of complex regulations, cap-and-trade allows industry to pay for excess carbon emissions and make new investments to reduce those emissions and thereby their costs.

In addition, the money raised from the cost of excess carbon is put back towards improving the environment by investing in new Green technology. Schools have been able to upgrade their HVAC systems, greatly reducing their costs and ultimately homeowners’ education taxes. Homeowners have been able to make energy efficiency upgrades to reduce their HVAC costs. The overall result is reduced costs to individuals and corporations as well as improvements to the environment.

Not only does cap-and-trade reduce our carbon impact on the environment, it has also stimulated the growth in Green jobs. We can’t afford as a province to fall behind on the creation of Green technology when Europe and China are surging ahead in these areas. Our future depends on being competitive in the new $26 trillion Green economy.

Cap-and-trade gave us $1.9 billion annually to invest in Ontario’s future.

We need our government to be a leader in producing good jobs. In 2017, the first year of cap-and-trade, Ontario added more than 155,000 new jobs, and manufacturing employment grew by 4.5 per cent while industrial natural gas use shrank by 15 per cent.

We need a government that works for the people, a government that puts the people ahead of insiders that view the price on carbon as a tax, a government that protects Ontario’s financial future.