Cap and trade my heart
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
Remember when the Ford government took power in 2018 and abruptly axed Ontario’s cap-and-trade program, falsely labelling it a “carbon tax” and promising cost savings for taxpayers? Well, it’s kind of coming back to bite them.
Fatima Syed has the scoop on a pair of lawsuits from businesses, including the behemoth Koch Industries, who are arguing the cancellation cost them tens of millions of dollars in lost investments and contractual obligations. If the government loses either suit, it could end up costing Ontarians far more than any (unsubstantiated) vows of net benefits.
“I've been obsessed with the cancellation of cap-and-trade since I stood outside Queen’s Park on the day Premier Ford was sworn in and heard him officially announce the cancellation,” Fatima tells me.
And so began her odyssey to make sense of the government’s mystifying thinking on this issue and the reverberations it has had on people and businesses across the province. “Over the years, I've learned about what specific emissions-reduction programs were lost because of this decision and have long heard rumblings of how upset the industry was,” Fatima says.
That hard work paid off in bringing this week’s piece to the surface. “Thanks to some sources who I speak to on the regular just to muse on the strangeness of this cancellation, I learned about these suits and presto, another small piece of the puzzle was revealed.”
In 2019, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta went to court to fight the carbon pricing program imposed by the federal government. When the provinces lost that battle, Ontario introduced Emissions Performance Standards — measures which include elements of a, yes, cap-and-trade system.
Meanwhile, Alberta and Saskatchewan are turning their attention to a different emissions-cutting idea: carbon capture.
Reporter Drew Anderson sifted through the jargon to break down exactly what you need to know about the investment boom sweeping the Prairies. In a nutshell, the technology removes carbon from industrial operations, like in the oilpatch, and stores it underground or uses it to make products like steel.
(While you might have heard hype around efforts to pull carbon from the air around us at a massive scale, that is very much a work in progress.)
Governments in Canada are pouring loads of cash into carbon capture projects, but the jury is still out on just how much they’ll move the needle on emissions reductions — and whether they’ll simply serve to prop up the oil and gas industry.
Take care and don’t bait-and-switch your cap-and-trade,
Arik Ligeti
Audience engagement editor
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Ask a Narwhal: Why did you become a member?
“Environmental journalism is more important than ever, and the Ontario team is doing incredible work.”
The Narwhal behind the scenes
