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(That at least is how it was understood until recently: an unconditional pledge to transfer any revenues from a federal tax to the governments of the provinces in which it was collected. Last month a new wrinkle emerged, in the form of draft legislation giving Ottawa the option to rebate the money it collects either to the government of a province, or to its citizens, depending on … well, it doesn’t say, but you can probably guess: depending on whether the province plays nicely. Whether the Liberals would really have the stones to discriminate between provinces in this way, based purely on how enthusiastically they endorsed a tax that would be imposed on them anyway, may be doubted. It’s the kind of thing that sounds clever, but could easily blow up in their faces.)

The news in the candidates’ declarations is, rather, that they have all vowed to repeal the Wynne government’s cap-and-trade plan, through which large emitters are permitted to buy and sell emissions credits — though, again, this is no more than what is in the platform.

When the Great Platform Revolt began, I had thought that their position would be just to default to the status quo, i.e. cap and trade, since a) this would not require them to do anything, b) the feds have said they would accept this in lieu of an explicit carbon tax, and c) the revenues the province collects from cap and trade, unlike a carbon tax, are invisible to the consumer. They could then claim to have averted the dread prospect of a carbon tax, while continuing to impose one via cap and trade.