Election Promises and Cap and Trade

The new Progressive Conservative premier of Ontario and his cabinet will be sworn in later this week and we're told that two changes will be immediate, both repudiations of current policies and programs. Apparently the component of the Health and Physical Education program often called "sex ed" will be scrapped, even though it has existed in some form for decades. And what Premier-elect Ford calls the "carbon tax" will go, even though it is actually a "cap and trade" program. The idea is that getting rid of Cap and Trade will stimulate business and make commuters happy with cheaper gas.

What does Cap and Trade mean? Industries must live with a cap on pollution or trade (pay) for the right to go over that cap. That's the David Mundy minimalist understanding of Cap and Trade, one way to reduce environmentally harmful emissions which includes some flexibility. The goal is to get industries to reduce those emissions but if they exceed them they must pay for the right to do so, with a portion of the money ending up in government coffers. The plan in most jurisdictions is that the revenue generated from the environmental sin tax will be used for public transit and technological research to reduce emissions and for public programs to make homes and businesses more energy efficient.

Ontario, Quebec, and the state of California entered into a Cap and Trade pact which has proved to be successful from the get-go. If we scrap this pact it could cost billions in unfulfilled contracts and set us back decades in reducing carbon emissions. There are concerns that businesses that do home retrofits will suffer and some energy alternative industries will leave the province.



I've listened to people speak on both sides and I do understand why there is concern that industries in some areas of the province pay into this program but don't see much in the way of direct benefit. Yet even they are not climate change deniers, and they accept,to a degree, at there must be ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Others support the program and offer strong reasons why it is working in North America and around the world.

Here's what I believe, even though I'm no expert on "cap and trade" or "carbon tax." We must protect our air and water and soil and we can't count on industry to take the appropriate steps to do so or to self-regulate. If there aren't alternatives then abandoning the program is regressive, not progressive. 

As a Christian I can see this as a practical matter and a spiritual matter. I hope the new administration thinks long and hard about what comes next. We might even pray about it, although I'm not holding my breath while I do.