Former U.S. VP Gore praises Ontario’s cap-and-trade system during Toronto visit
TORONTO — As debate over how to combat climate change gears up to be a key issue in Ontario’s spring election, former U.S. vice president and environmental crusader Al Gore lauded the Liberal government’s cap-andtrade system and criticized politicians who wanted to dismantle it.
Gore, who met with Premier Kathleen Wynne in Toronto on Thursday, called cap and trade better than a carbon tax and suggested the province’s Progressive Conservatives, who are picking a new leader this weekend, are headed in the wrong direction on climate policy with their promises to scrap the Liberal system.
“I don’t want to interfere in your politics but I have to speak out when I see all of the candidates in the other party proposing to go backwards and to say we’re going to undo the progress that created jobs and made Ontario a model for the entire world,” he said at Ryerson University.
All four candidates hoping to helm Ontario’s Tories have pledged to dismantle the Liberal government’s cap-and-trade system and also fight the imposition of a carbon tax by the federal government.
Gore called cap and trade a “superior” system when it comes to fighting climate change, and called the Wynne government’s decision to join a Quebec-California carbon market this year
“bold and innovative.”
“I cite Ontario as an example of a provincial government that’s doing it right,” Gore said. “Creating jobs, building a base for economic progress while also staving off the severe danger the climate crisis poses to all of us.”
Ontario’s cap-and-trade system aims to lower greenhouse gas emissions by putting caps on the amount of pollution companies in certain industries can emit. If they exceed those limits they must buy allowances at
quarterly auctions or from other companies that come in under their limits. The system has raised nearly $2.5 billion so far, with the government putting revenue toward green projects such as energy efficient improvements at hospitals.
Gore said other jurisdictions like China started to fight climate change with carbon taxes and then switched to cap and trade because it’s more effective.
Wynne said it’s important voters know what’s at stake when
it comes to climate change if they opt for a Tory government in the spring. A court challenge over whether the imposition of a federal carbon tax is constitutional would take time and hurt the province, she said. Tory energy critic Todd Smith said Thursday that cap and trade is unaffordable for Ontario families and businesses, arguing it increases fees for goods and services.