Ford joins Saskatchewan’s fight against carbon tax

Ontario vows $30M to help in legal battle against federal plan

SAINT ANDREWS, N.B.— Ontario will join Saskatchewan’s court case challenging the federal government’s right to impose a carbon tax on provinces.

Premier Doug Ford made the announcement on Thursday alongside Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe at the Council of the Federation meeting of all 13 provincial and territorial leaders.

After a one-on-one meeting with Moe Wednesday night, Ford said the two premiers are on “exactly the same page.” He said that Ontario will use “every tool at our disposal” to support Saskatchewan in its appeal of Ottawa’s carbon plan.

“Our provinces are strongest when we stand together and this will show unity and will send a clear message to the federal government,” said Ford, whose Progressive Conservative government has budgeted $30 million for the legal fight. Amid growing discontent with the federal government’s plan to impose a carbon tax on provinces that do not come up with a carbon-pricing system it approves of, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet the premiers later this year to discuss the issue, sources told the Star.

On Thursday, a spokesperson for federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said that Ontario would be “willing to spend $30 million of taxpayer money on fighting climate leadership.” Moe — whose province has a plan to reduce emissions without a carbon tax, one that Ottawa has been skeptical of — said “a one-size-fits-all carbon tax fails to recognize the diverse nature of our great Canadian economy.”

He said he is grateful Ontario is aiding in the court fight.

Ontario was, up until recently, part of a cap-and-trade system in which carbon “credits” were bought and sold by polluters in a shared market with Quebec and California.

The province has announced it is withdrawing from that system, but has not provided any details about any alternate climate-change plans.

Ford has conducted a number of informal meetings with premiers to talk about the carbon tax since he arrived in Saint An- drews on Wednesday. His government has until Nov. 30 to apply to intervene in the Saskatchewan case.

Keith Brooks, program director at Environmental Defence, said the proposal to scrap carbon tax is “not a good use of taxpayer dollars that the premier says he values so highly.”

Brooks said the federal government has a clear jurisdiction to regulate greenhouse gas emission, and legal experts believe the challenge has no chance of being successful, on top of being costly.