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TORONTO — The federal government will end up with the power to regulate almost every facet of life — such as when you can drive or where you can live — if its law aimed at curbing harmful greenhouse gas emissions is allowed to stand, Ontario’s top court heard Monday.

The law is so broad, a lawyer for the province said on Day 1 of a four-day Appeal Court hearing, that it would give the Ottawa powers that would destabilize Canada in the name of curbing the cumulative effects of global-warming emissions.

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“They could regulate where you live, how often you drive your car,” Josh Hunter told the five-justice panel. “It would unbalance the federation.”

Hunter said Ontario’s constitutional challenge to the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act was not intended as a debate on the realities or dangers of global warming. What’s at stake, he said, is which level of government has the power to deal with the problem.