Province's public consultations on climate change are just a smoke screen, says Thompson

Last week, Glen Murray, minister of the environment and climate change, began consultations on Ontario’s Climate Change Discussion Paper.

Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson, Progressive Conservative (PC) critic for the environment and climate change, is questioning just how serious he is about the public’s input.

 

“These consultations are nothing more than a smokescreen to distract from the fact that the minister has already made up his mind on a carbon tax,” says Thompson.

 

Feb. 24, at the ROMA/OGRA (Good Roads) 2015 Conference, the minister was outlining specific aspects of the new carbon tax on which he has yet to begin public consultation, says Thompson. "Thought to be a major topic of discussion during climate change consultations, it appears the minister has already crafted his policy."

 

Thompson was not surprised by Murray's lack of interest in the public’s opinion saying, “If the Liberals truly valued the input of Ontarians, they would have been forthright with their intentions to impose a carbon tax during the June election.

 

“Polls already show that a majority of Ontarians do not want a carbon tax (based on research published by Forum Research in January). However it appears the government wasn’t listening and has no intention to start”.

 

With the decision already made to implement a carbon tax, Ontario residents should expect a substantial increase in the cost of living, Thompson says. “Prices won’t just be up at the pump and on your heating bill, a tax on carbon, is a tax on everything and that will be represented by increasing costs to all consumer products”.

 

QUICK POINTS

 

• Since implementing a carbon tax, British Columbia's’s manufacturing industry has seen substantial losses; while the province’s trade deficit has nearly doubled. Ontario’s economy can hardly afford to suffer this same fate.
• Between 2007 and 2010, gasoline sales in British Columbia actually increased, giving little credence to the argument that a carbon tax reduces dependency on fossil fuels.
• From 2004 to 2007, British Columbia's unemployment rate was steadily declining; however, since the implementation of a carbon tax, it has never returned to pre-carbon-tax levels and is currently at six per cent. We can only assume Ontario’s comparatively high seven-per-cent unemployment rate would increase drastically with any incoming tax on carbon.
• In Ontario, we already pay three taxes on the sale of gasoline; what will another tax really accomplish that the other three aren’t?
• Carbon tax is just another excuse for what finance minister Charles Sousa calls “new revenue tools”.