It is important to realize…

It is important to realize that the changing climate is not a partisan issue - it is GLOBAL. Countries, individuals and politicians should be working together (not squabbling) to come up with the best solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building a liveable planet for future generations. As you undoubtedly know, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report earlier this week confirming that we need to move much faster to lower GHG emissions. On the very same day, the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to William Nordhaus for his work on carbon pricing. The IPCC report laid out a challenge. The Nobel Prize winners confirmed a solution.

Before dismantling the existing Cap and Trade system and burdening tax payers with the heavy cost of exiting and initiating a legal challenge with the federal government about the imposition of a backstop if no provincial plan for reduction targets is in place, your party may want to think about the positive elements of the policy and, perhaps, move carefully to something that is more to your liking.  

There are several ways to price carbon.  I want to share with you information on how a government of any political stripe can reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions with a simple and effective policy that does not raise taxes: carbon fee and dividend.  The policy charges for emissions at their source and redistributes all revenue equally to citizens and is widely supported by economists on both sides of the political spectrum.

The present cap and trade system puts a cap and a price on Ontario's GHG emissions through a carbon market that began January 1, 2017. It has not been in operation all that long, but was reviewed by the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Diane Saxe, in a recent report. It is regarded as a "good start" on meeting the objectives of the program and all monies raised are required by law to reduce, or support the reduction of GHG emissions. She reports that "99% of these funds went to initiatives that met the minimum requirements of the Climate Act".

No matter what you choose, establishing an economic policy for emissions “pricing carbon” forces polluters to pay for greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. This creates incentives to reduce emissions using existing technologies and develop new technologies that pollute less. It also shifts consumption and investment toward goods and services that require less carbon to produce. The four provinces that had a price on carbon pollution: Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia, led the country in economic growth last year.

If you don't want a carbon tax - make it revenue neutral with carbon fee and dividend!

The climate is changing. The citizens of Ontario are already experiencing the negative effects and significant economic costs from extreme storms, floods and forest fires. A Party in 2018 that does not have a bold Climate Action Plan is irresponsible, favouring short term political gain at the expense of our children and grandchildren.  Lack of action on greenhouse gas emissions demonstrates a lack of vision for a competitive future in a world that is moving to a low carbon economy.