Ontario government should scrap Drive Clean program altogether, says Huron-Bruce MPP

It's time the provincial government stopped playing shell games with Ontarians' money, and started getting down to the business of scrapping the Drive Clean program altogether, says Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson, Progressive Conservative (PC) critic for environment and Cap-and-Trade.
 
The Liberals promised earlier this year to cover the $60-million annual tab to run the program, removing the direct costs for Ontarians, she said. What they failed to mention, however, was that the funds to continue to administer the program would have to come from tax dollars drawn from the pockets of Ontarians anyway.
 
"It's a shell game," said Thompson. "They're eliminating the fee for consumers, and pushing it onto the taxpayers. The fee is still there, we just don't get to see it anymore. They've already run up a surplus on the back of this program without providing any benefits to Ontarians."
 
In his 2012 annual report, former auditor general Jim McCarter found that vehicle emissions reductions since 1999 are due to improved technology, not Drive Clean.
 
"The program achieved what it was designed to do," said Thompson. "More than 95 per cent of vehicles are now passing the test. It was never meant to be a mainstay. It's time to scrap it, not continue using it as a Liberal talking point."