We do not have any time to…

We do not have any time to waste in finding a solution to climate change. By putting a price on greenhouse gas emissions (and by extension, other pollutants), we incentivize the transition from an unsustainable economy which is too dependent on burning fossil fuels to an economy which is sustainable.
If we had a household economy where we spent $11 for every $10 of income, we would be told that this situation is unsustainable. And yet, human society worldwide currently consumes the resources of 1.7 earths. If the rest of the world consumed terrestrial resources at the rate at which Canadians consume, that lifestyle would require the resources of 4.7 earths.
Our consumption of natural resources is unsustainable, and it will take great advances to help us replace those outdated technologies with technologies that are sustainable. Green technology is the wave of the future, and the governments that subsidize this growth industry will reap the benefits further down the line.
Without 'cap and trade', the market views heavily polluting and non-polluting industries in the same way. With 'cap and trade', market forces come into play to allow non-polluting industries access to start up capital, and to encourage polluting industries to reduce their carbon footprint. The 'invisible hand of the market' would then be harnessed to reduce greenhouse gasses. It is efficient, and in the long term, benefits those industries that find new ways of greening their operations.
Meanwhile, climate change is costing our society a fortune, and it will only get worse as the effects of climate change become more and more common. Unpredictable changes in long established weather patterns, loss of species, wildfires, flooding, erosion, storm damage - these represent the real 'carbon tax', and we have been paying it for decades! (It is inaccurate to refer to cap and trade as a 'carbon tax', and yet, it is an inaccuracy I hear used frequently, even from the Ontario government. Please forgive me if I turn that inaccuracy around to describe the current situation.)
Individuals can do their part, but it will not be enough. We will need large scale, unified action at all levels of government to change long established patterns of consumption. It is unfortunate that the current Ontario government cancelled wind turbine projects, some of which were on the verge of completion - this is absolutely the wrong direction for the province to be going! We do not have any time to waste; we have known, as a society, for at least 50 years that it was time to replace fossil fuels with green energy, and yet, we have squandered that time.
I call on the government to reconsider Bill 4, the Cap and Trade Cancellation Act, 2018"