CARBON CHALLENGE
Ontario launches battle against federal carbon tax
TORONTO — Ontario is launching a legal battle against the federal government over its carbon tax plan, a costly move critics say has little chance of succeeding.
Environment Minister Rod Phillips and Attorney General Caroline Mulroney made the announcement Thursday in Toronto, saying they had received a clear mandate during the spring election to fight the federal tax for provinces that don’t have their own carbon pricing system.
Mulroney would not say whether she thought the province could win but denied the legal challenge was simply a gesture meant to appease Progressive Conservative supporters.
“It’s not symbolic for the people of Ontario who want us to do everything that we can to stop the federal Liberals from imposing this tax on them ... so it’s not symbolic, it’s what we were elected to do,” she said.
The ministers said the constitutional challenge is in addition to Premier Doug Ford’s decision to join a similar legal battle launched by the government of Saskatchewan.
Phillips said he believes Ontario’s arguments would be slightly different from its Prairie peer’s.
Ford vowed to fight Ottawa’s carbon pricing plan and eliminate Ontario’s cap-and-trade system during the spring election campaign. His Progressive Conservative party’s platform budgeted $30 million for the court challenge and Mulroney said Thursday that she believes it will cost less.
The PC government introduced legislation last month to scrap cap and trade and cancel programs financed through its revenues, such as rebates for energy-efficient renovations, transit projects and a fund for school repairs.
Opposition party leaders and the federal Liberals condemned the choice to turn to the courts.
At an event in Winnipeg, federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said she was disappointed Ontario was spending millions of taxpayer dollars to fight climate leadership.
“It’s now absolutely clear, the Ford gov’t — like the Scheer & Harper Conservatives — has no climate plan. Climate change doesn’t stop with a change in government. And in 2018, no climate plan = no plan for the economy. Our kids deserve better,” McKenna also wrote on Twitter.
Ontario’s New Democrats said the Ford government was acting on a “double standard” by claiming federal interference on carbon pricing at the same time it is bringing forth legislation to cut Toronto’s city council by 22 seats less than three months from a municipal election.
“I find it quite ironic that we have a government that is now suing the federal government apparently for implementation of a carbon tax, which they have a right to do. But then they’re going around and taking the rights away from Toronto,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said.
“So they’re trying to say that the federal government can’t take their rights away yet they’re taking the rights of Torontonians away. It makes no sense whatsoever.”
Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser questioned the decision to spend taxpayer dollars on what he called a “fruitless exercise,” given the PCs’ insistence on fiscal responsibility.
“If they’re really serious about protecting the taxpayers’ money then they shouldn’t be spending that money and I think the minister knows it, both ministers,” he said.
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner echoed that sentiment.
“It’s clear that Premier Ford would rather spend money on lawyers than repairing schools, helping people save money by saving energy or helping hospitals lower their utility bills,” he said. “This is a frivolous lawsuit that has no hope of winning and it’s a complete waste of taxpayer dollars.”