Ontario launching challenge of federal carbon tax plan
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. Asked whether the province was spending
money on duplicate efforts, Phillips said he believes Ontario’s arguments would be slightly different from its Prairie peer’s.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, meanwhile, said in a statement Thursday that his government would “strongly consider’’ joining Ontario’s court challenge.
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 Tory government introduced legislation last month to scrap cap and trade and cancel programs financed through its revenues, which include rebates for energy-efficient renovations,
transit projects and a fund for school repairs. The premier’s provincial opponents condemned Ford’s decision to turn to the courts in the carbon pricing fight, as did the federal government.
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.