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Newly minted Premier Doug Ford has made it clear that he will move full steam ahead in ending the previous Liberal government’s cap and trade system and in reducing gasoline taxes as among the first items of business of Ontario’s new government.

While this move may reduce consumer prices slightly in the short-term, shaving 10 cents off a litre of gasoline at the pump, it will do so at the expense of eliminating any credible climate policy for the province of Ontario. It also sets up an immediate clash with the federal Liberal government, which just passed the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.

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The federal law will impose a carbon tax “backstop” on any province — now including Ontario — that doesn’t have a carbon pricing system of its own, starting with a $20 per tonne carbon tax (about 4.5 cents per litre of gas or $1 per gigajoule of natural gas) in January 2019.

Since the federal government has told other provinces provincial carbon pricing must be incremental to existing fuel taxes, it is possible they may even tax back the entire gasoline and diesel tax reduction promised by the Ford government. So any savings that consumers realize as a result of Ford’s cap and trade pullout are likely to be short-lived.