TORONTO— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s principal secretary is taking on Ontario premier-designate Doug Ford’s decision to scrap cap-and-trade.

In tweets sent since Ford’s Friday announcement, Gerald Butts accused Ford of inviting “pointless litigation” by pulling Ontario out of the carbon pricing market with California and Quebec. And suggested businesses have now wasted billions in a market that’s been closed to them.

Ontario businesses invested almost $3 billion in a market that is now closed to them. #climatechange https://t.co/6WsmhwPqpI — Gerald Butts 🇨🇦 (@gmbutts) June 18, 2018

Last week Ford said his first act in government would be to cancel Ontario’s participation in the cap-and trade market. The system puts a cap on how much big polluters can emit and incentivizes companies to reduce emissions by forcing them to purchase allowances if they go above their cap.

Brought into force in January, the market was key to Ontario’s role in meeting greenhouse gas emission targets set out in the Paris Agreement. In Ontario, electricity importers and fuel suppliers are among the companies that are required to take part in the system.

Mocking Ford’s campaign slogan — “Ontario is open for business” — Butts tweeted that the promise boils down to lawyers who will enjoy a lot more business from the lawsuits that experts have warned could follow.

That didn’t take long. Lawyers, start your billable hours. Ontario is now open for business.* *Business = pointless litigation. https://t.co/A0Sid1Xm29 — Gerald Butts 🇨🇦 (@gmbutts) June 16, 2018

On Friday Ford suggested his government — to be sworn in on June 29 — won’t follow the requirement to give one year’s notice to end its participation in the market and also suggested he wont reimburse companies for the $2.8 billion of carbon allowances that have been bought but are now worthless.

“They’re going to see immediate relief, everyone’s going to see it because we’re going to reduce gas prices,” Ford said in response to a question on whether he would reimburse the companies.

Cancelling cap-and-trade is key to Ford’s promise to reduce gas prices by 10 cents a litre. The carbon price added 4.3 cents to the price of gas but with Ottawa promising to replace the cancelled cap-and-trade system with a federally imposed carbon tax there’s no guarantee prices will go down.

On the same day that Ford announced his plans, information on the August cap-and-trade auction was released. The information documents issued by Quebec and California said companies registered in Ontario wouldn’t be allowed to participate in the auction.

The move ensured that the market wouldn’t be flooded with allowances that Ontario companies no longer need.

Ford told reporters on Friday he didn’t expect that lawsuits would result from his decision. He said his team has “looked into it” and said he thinks companies would be “quite happy that they won’t be paying in the future.”

The $2.8 billion that Ontario has raised from the cap-and-trade market was supposed to go towards programs that would further cut greenhouse gas emissions. Ford has said those programs, such as subsidies for energy retrofits, will also be cancelled.

In response to the tweets from Butts’ Progressive Conservative spokesperson Simon Jefferies said the incoming government will “provide clear rules to wind down the cap-and-trade scheme in a responsible manner.”

“Doug Ford and the Ontario PCs were elected on a strong mandate from the people of Ontario to scrap the carbon tax and put more money in the people’s pockets,” the statement from Jefferies said. “We believe businesses across the province will be happy they don’t have to pay this tax anymore.”



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