Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives want to be known as progressive conservationists.

With Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals moving forward with a new cap-and-trade system that will raise fossil fuel prices to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the official Opposition is touting its own environmental credentials.

Fresh from rookie leader Patrick Brown’s recent announcement the Tories would pursue “sensible carbon pricing,” the party has released a video signalling a new emphasis on green issues.

In the three-minute piece, MPP Monte McNaughton (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex) notes conservative leaders such as former prime minister Brian Mulroney, former U.S. president Ronald Reagan and former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher have long cared about the environment.

“For too long, we, as conservatives, have shied away from the conversation on conservation,” McNaughton says in the video.

“We’ve let others frame us as if there is a contradiction between caring about the environment and being a conservative. By not challenging that notion moving forward we will continue to see failed policy initiatives by a desperate government.”

That’s an allusion to Wynne’s new carbon-pricing scheme that will increase the cost of gasoline by 4.3 cents a litre next year and hike natural gas bills by about $5 a month as well as force most businesses to cap emissions and buy — or trade — credits to pollute.

“The reality is, here in Ontario, the Wynne Liberals are desperate for more of your money to spend,” maintains McNaughton.

“They’ve already sold off Hydro One to make up for their own waste and scandal. They’ve overcharged Ontario families more than $9 billion on renewable energy projects,” he says, referring to the sell-off of 60 per cent of the Crown electricity transmitter, and the auditor general’s criticism of Liberal green energy programs.

“They’ve moved ahead with a cap-and-trade system that will collect $1.9 billion in new taxes this year alone. This isn’t conservation; it’s mismanagement,” he says.

“We believe that a clean environment is necessary for a strong economy. We believe there can be a free market approach to the environment. That’s why we believe that every single dollar paid out by a polluter should be returned to you, the taxpayer.”

With an eye on the spring 2018 election, Brown, who took over last May, has been repositioning a party that has long opposed carbon pricing.

In the legislature last week, the Tory leader said the Liberals are going about things the wrong way.

“If the government wants to get public buy-in for their environmental policies, it can’t simply be a cash-grab. It has to be revenue-neutral,” Brown said last Monday.

“The reality is this government’s proposal will cause the average family in Ontario to pay $387 more (annually). That’s not right. This plan must include corresponding tax relief for individuals and businesses if you want to have the public’s buy-in,” he said.

“The Liberals have to stop making life more expensive for everyone in Ontario. Why won’t this government give families a break?”

At his party’s convention earlier this month, Brown said a PC government would impose “sensible carbon pricing,” offset by tax cuts in other unspecified areas.

He made his announcement March 5 in Ottawa before 1,700 Tory supporters, one of whom immediately shouted: “No!”

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Brown also unveiled a new PC logo that weekend, which connects traditional red and blue elements with a green leaf splashed in the middle to denote a focus on the environment.

Wynne scoffed at the evolution of her main political rivals.

“I think we’re going to see epiphanies on a whole bunch of subjects,” she said last Monday.

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