Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured earlier this year, met with provincial, territorial and Indigenous leaders on Friday in Montreal. iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn’t pleased with Ontario premier-designate Doug Ford’s plan to scrap Ontario’s cap-and-trade system the day his government is sworn in.

“On the environment, the premier-designate has notified us that he intends to withdraw from the national climate plan. This is obviously unfortunate,” Trudeau told reporters Wednesday.

“We would rather he not do that.”

Ford made the pledge June 15 in an effort to make good on his campaign promise to cut gas prices by 10 cents per litre. The current system, cap-and-trade, allows puts a cap on how much pollution companies can emit — but it allows the big polluters to purchase emissions capacity from other businesses that haven’t used all of theirs. The program, according to Ford, added 4.3 cents per litre to the price of gas.

Under the federal legislation, all provinces have until the end of the year to enact carbon pricing plans. If they don’t meet federal standards a national price will be imposed on them. Saskatchewan has already threatened to sue if the federal government tries to impose a price on carbon.

The government has already committed to impose its national carbon pricing plan on Ontario should Ford do away with cap-and-trade.

The carbon tax has been a contentious issue in the House of Commons, with the Conservatives hammering the Liberals on their plan to put a price on carbon during question period and in debates.

Ford, who won a majority in the Ontario provincial election, ran on platform that included a promise to end Ontario’s cap-and-trade carbon pricing system. The federal Conservatives were emboldened by the June 7 election, which they referred to as a carbon tax “verdict” rendered by the people of Ontario. They hammered the government on the issue the day after the Ontario election.

“The people have voted against the prime minister’s carbon tax,” Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre said during question period June 8.

“Will the prime minister accept the verdict of the people and cancel his carbon tax plan to raise the price of everything?”

Liberal MP Jonathan Wilkinson defended the government’s policy.

“I certainly wish, Mr. Speaker, that for the sake of our children and grandchildren, the Conservatives were not making climate change a partisan argument,” Wilkinson said. “Canadians know that climate change is real and they expect us to take strong action.”

It’s a sentiment Trudeau echoed during his press conference on Wednesday. He said the government will ensure they move forward with their plan — and he said he has every intention to work with the premiers to do just that.

“I’ve made it very clear in the past two and a half years that I’m willing to work collaboratively with all premiers across this country,” Trudeau said.

Ford, however, has been clear about where he stands.

“As of June the 29, the cap-and-trade, the carbon tax they’re gone, they’re done,” Ford told reporters June 15.

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