Bill 162, if passed, will:…

Bill 162, if passed, will:
Make it even harder to reduce carbon pollution
Increase both sprawl housing and highways
Both these will make life more expensive for Ontarians and hurt the environment. Here’s how:
The Bill would remove our carbon pricing system, which actually puts rebate money into the pockets of ordinary Ontarians. Carbon pricing is one of the best ways to reduce carbon pollution from public, private and industrial activity - it’s “Pay for what you use”, a pretty conservative concept. It’s commonly called a “carbon tax”, but it’s not a tax; most of the money (80%) is returned to us, deposited straight into our bank accounts. Most of us get more money back than we are charged. Those that get less back have more incentive to change. The other 20% is used for projects to help reduce Canada’s carbon pollution.
Sprawl housing forces people to live farther from work and shopping, is usually difficult for public transit, and is rarely affordable housing. As well, adding more highways can actually slow traffic down, due to more cars on the road network. This all increases costs for homeowners, in both gas money and time spent in traffic.