Legalisms beating out environmentalism
As the world warms up, a carbon cold war has descended on Canada.
But beware the phoney war now being waged through litigation, deception and disruption.
The battle is just beginning — in courts of law and the court of public opinion. The bigger question is how it all ends.
Don’t be deceived by the early naysaying, for in a democracy the people have the final say — not just in provincial elections, but in federal campaigns.
In a Toronto courtroom this week, the Ontario government launched Doug Ford’s quixotic legal battle against the federal carbon tax — at a cost of $30 million coming out of Ontario taxpayers’ pockets.
It is a peculiar approach for a politician who always fancied himself a populist, not a constitutionalist.
The premier, who once raged at “unelected judges” (for daring to second-guess his decisions), has now dispatched his own high-priced lawyers to seek relief from other unelected judges. It is the best evidence yet that under his leadership, Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives have abandoned their heritage of environmentalism for legalisms.
Ontario’s lawyers argued in court that the province has already done enough, thanks to the previous Liberal government’s decision to shutter coal-fired power plants. While Ontario is unlikely to meet future emission reduction targets, the Ford government insists that Ottawa has no right to meddle. Except that, implicit in Ford’s argument is the contradictory suggestion that other provinces should be compelled to do more so that Ontario can do less in the future.
Unsurprisingly, Ford’s lawyers downplay the reality that the federal government granted the provinces flexibility to design their own programs. In fact, Ontario’s pre-existing cap-and-trade program (inspired by a similar carbon pricing program in neighbouring Quebec) complied fully with the federal requirements — until he cancelled it. And until Ford took over the Tories a year ago, the official PC platform called for full co-operation and implementation of the federal carbon tax — so is it truly intrusive?
While his lawyers argue a weak case before the judges, Ford is flexing his legal muscle outside the courtroom: New legislation would impose $10,000 fines against any gas station that doesn’t affix to its pumps government-dictated propaganda stickers opposing Ottawa’s policy.
Drafted to demonize and distort the federal carbon tax, the stickers inexplicably fail to explain that the 4.4 cents a litre cost at the pump will be largely rebated to Ontario families. The stickers also ignore the reality that Ford is quietly pocketing a far bigger share of gas taxes (14.7 cents a litre, plus 8 per cent provincial sales tax under the HST).
The costs of sticking it to Ottawa with stickers are indeterminate. But there is a price to be paid by a pro-business party that casts itself as a guardian against the big hand of government while converting gas pumps into partisan messengers.
While threatening heavy fines, the government is spending big bucks to get its message onto the airwaves this week with the launch of its controversial anti-tax ad blitz that boasts, “Ontario has a better way.” The provincial advertising campaign is more accusatory than explanatory, unprecedented in its puerile targeting of a federal government that Ontario voters elected four years ago.
Now, all eyes are on Alberta, where Jason Kenney’s United Conservatives triumphed on the campaign trail this week after vowing to make common cause with Ford’s Tories in fighting the carbon tax. Ontario, a province that once acted as the bulwark of Confederation, is now bulldozing the federation in alliance with Alberta.
It is tempting, given the changing political environment, to see Ottawa’s best-laid environmental plans fading in the fog of war. Yet, the likelihood is that the final court verdict (even if it goes all the way to the Supreme Court) will be a validation of the federal government’s right to ensure the provinces do their part. No matter how much Ford and Kenney conflate the constitutional with the ideological, any country must fulfil its international (and planetary) obligations on climate change without constituent provinces going in different directions.
Notwithstanding Ford’s newfound fondness for unelected judges, it is the people who will likely have the last word.
Ultimately, what counts most is who prevails in the federal Parliament after the October election — and how public opinion manifests itself. The reality is that a plurality of Canadians are supportive of carbon pricing, notably when the rebates are pointed out. What next? If a majority of Ontarians vote for the federal Liberals in October (as they did in 2015), would Ford then concede that Ottawa had a mandate all along?
If the federal Tories fail to win a Parliamentary majority and are unable to implement their campaign promise to revoke the carbon tax backstop, will Ford give up his costly fight? Will he stop trying to dissuade Ontarians who are largely supportive of carbon pricing?
More to the point, will our populist premier cancel his ad campaign, call off his gas pump police, scrub off the stickers and rebate those $10,000 fines? Don’t count on it.
Forget the fight against global warming. Ford is having too much fun fighting the carbon tax with a sticker war, ad blitz and legal battle.