Yesterday, Ontario’s Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks Rod Phillips announced details of legislation that will, if passed, formally end the cap-and-trade carbon tax era in Ontario.

The Province revoked the cap-and-trade carbon tax regulation and prohibited all trading of emission allowances effective July 3, 2018. All programs currently funded through the cap-and-trade carbon tax have been cancelled, including the immediate wind down of the Green Ontario Fund.

The government’s announced legislation will include a plan to compensate eligible participants of the program, including the development of new regulations. Participants eligible for compensation will be required to meet the following criteria:

• Participants who were required to participate in the cap and trade program
• Participants whose accumulated costs are currently above and beyond their assessed emissions
• Participants who did not pass program costs down to consumers.

The proposed legislation will also include measures to help replace the cap-and-trade carbon tax with another plan for achieving environmental goals.

The Government calculates that these measures will save average Ontario household about $260 a year in energy and fuel costs, and indirect costs from increased prices on goods and services.

____________________________________________________________

Manning Environmental Law is a Canadian law firm based in Toronto, Ontario. Our practice is focussed on environmental law, energy law and aboriginal law. 

Paul Manning is a certified specialist in environmental law. He has been named as one of the World’s Leading Environmental Lawyers and one of the World’s Leading Climate Change Lawyers by Who’s Who Legal.

As always, these posts  are provided only as a general guide and are not legal advice. If you do have any issue that requires legal advice please get in touch. Our contact details can be found here