Ottawa — not Ontario — would decide how carbon-tax revenues are spent if a new provincial government rejects a pollution pricing system, says Environment Minister Catherine McKenna.

Some 80 per cent of Canadians live in a province that has already put a price on carbon — including Ontario, with its cap-and-trade — and the federal government will soon require all provinces to have some system in place, McKenna said.

However, Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford — who leads in pre-election polls — has said he would scrap any carbon tax.

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“Let’s be clear: Pollution isn’t free,” McKenna told reporters gathered at an East York home Wednesday morning for an announcement on rebates for eco-friendly home renovations, an announcement she made alongside Premier Kathleen Wynne and provincial Environment Minister Chris Ballard.

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Ontario and three other provinces — Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta — have carbon pricing systems in place, and the federal government expects others to soon follow.

When asked about Ford’s stance, McKenna said “we’ve been clear if the federal government has to step in, the revenues will go back to the province — but we will determine how they go back, and we could give them back directly to people and businesses so they would not go to the government.”

But in a statement to the Star, Ford said a PC government would fight the federal Liberals.

A carbon tax “makes life more expensive, and our province more uncompetitive,” he said. “I have been very clear, the Ontario PCs will scrap Kathleen Wynne’s expensive cap-and-trade carbon tax scheme.

“We will also take the federal government all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to, if it means stopping this tax from being rammed down our province’s throat.”

McKenna was in town to tout the federal Liberals’ $100 million pledge to help Ontarians improve their homes via rebates for upgraded windows, insulation improvements and high-efficiency heating and ventilation systems.

Wynne said the money will “boost the Green Ontario Fund and help homeowners pay for energy-efficient technologies that will help us meet our global obligation to reduce emissions and combat climate change.”

Ontarians are already able to apply for up to $7,200 on environmentally friendly home improvements.

Wynne said Ontario’s cap-and-trade system — which sets limits for polluters and allows them to “sell” carbon credits if they come under target or purchase more if they go over — has already brought in $2.4 billion.

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“I want to be very clear that every dollar of that money is going right back into fighting climate change as part of our Climate Change Action Plan,” Wynne said.

“ ... I know there are those who would say to us right now this is not necessary, you need to slow down, get rid of the carbon market. But, my response to that is you cannot say that you’re serious about climate change if you’re not willing to put a price on pollution.

“It’s just not possible.”

Ballard said it “would be very difficult” to get out of the cap-and-trade system, which is linked with Quebec and California’s carbon-auction markets.

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