As a scientist, and as one…

As a scientist, and as one of the Ontarians that the provincial government has been elected to represent, I strongly condemn Bill 4.

Cap and trade is not a perfect system, but the lion's share of carbon output in this province belongs to industrial sources. Transitioning to a carbon-neutral economy is not inexpensive, and it has been amply demonstrated that corporate interests will not transition en masse on their own. Therefore, it is the role of government to compel and regulate this transition, in the interest of the public good. That the revenue generated by cap and trade was sufficient to fund various now-cancelled initiatives such as GreenON is demonstrated by the reports that nearly 1 billion dollars in revenue is held in trust for use on green initiatives. Cap and trade was imperfect, but it was working. We must not let perfect be the enemy of good, particularly not when the health, safety and prosperity of our children and grandchildren is at stake.

While this government plans to put forth their own climate change strategy, the development and implementation of new strategies takes time. I urge the government to halt the repeal of cap and trade until such time as they have an alternative strategy ready to implement. We cannot afford to spin our wheels on this one.