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While Wynne wasn’t sure of the costs, she did have a clear plan of how to spend the money.

In background details released by the government – which include almost no background but reams of testimonials praising the government – the Liberals quote Jerry Brown, the current governor of California, and David Miller, the former mayor of Toronto, hailing Wynne’s “bold” move. In all, the energy ministry found 26 people eager to heap praise on it, from such objective and dispassionate organizations as Clean Energy Canada and Climate Action Network. Gosh, who would have thought organizations dedicated to putting a price on carbon would applaud a plan to put a price on carbon?

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As it happens, we’ll have to take the government plan on faith, because Wynne’s announcement was wholly devoid of detail. First she has to sign the deal, she said, then the contents will be worked out. In most areas of commercial activity that might be considered backwards – usually when you sign a contract, you know what it contains before you agree to it. Price, for example, is normally a big concern, but Wynne said it would be “irresponsible” to establish what it might cost Ontarians before she actually commits them to it. Wynne would make a great car salesperson: “Waddaya mean ya wanna know how much it costs? Just shaddup and drive it off the lot, I’ll send you the bill later.”

Governments are different, however, largely because they often sign pacts they utterly fail to implement. For example, if McGuinty had stuck to his agreement with Schwarzenegger, this version presumably wouldn’t be necessary. And if the federal Liberals had ever kept their word after agreeing to the Kyoto accord, Ontario wouldn’t still be approving “historic” deals to achieve standards that should long ago have been reached.