This decision is an…

This decision is an appalling one for a number of reasons. It goes against everything that a fiscally responsible government should be doing. It is also an abhorrent moral failure on the part of the provincial government to pull out of a plan that is proven to reduce emissions. The Cap and Trade system employed by governments in Ontario, Quebec and California was a model to the world in effective climate change fighting efforts. It spanned three enormous jurisdictions and worked well. Carbon pricing is the least-intrusive and most effective way that we have to fight climate change. It limits costly government programs and lets consumers alter their behaviour. It also returns the money to support those who would struggle the most to pay for their goods and helps create the clean technology and energy that we need to lower our emissions and save the planet. Pulling the rug out from under the feet of the businesses that bought credits in good faith is hardly making things better for businesses in Ontario or for the taxpayers. In fact, we now have to spend billions in government handouts to buy businesses out of these pre-bought credits. So we are a) not working to save the planet and b) not working to save the taxpayer's money. The Cap and Trade Cancellation Act doesn't make a shred of fiscal, policy or environmental sense. It goes against the facts of the matter and there is no plan coming to change things. Therefore, as the U.N. report states, we will dig ourselves further into a hole that we won't be able to get out of as we continue to ruin the only place we have to live. I urge you for the good of the people of Ontario, and the world, to please reconsider this decision and to advocate for carbon pricing of some kind so that we can be a leader for the world. We can set ourselves up to thrive in the future if we act now but if we keep up the current nonsense rhetoric and ignoring the facts we will be in dire straits before long and will be paying billions and trillions of dollars in disaster relief and insurance. We have got to take real and meaningful action on climate change now and stop kicking the can down the road because we are about to reach a dead end.