An Ontario court has ruled Premier Doug Ford broke the law by axing the province’s cap-and-trade system without public consultation, but is not ordering his Progressive Conservative government to reinstate the program aimed at fighting climate change.

In a split decision Friday, two of three Divisional Court judges concluded the government was “obliged” under the province’s Environmental Bill of Rights to consult the public before terminating the carbon pricing system launched by the previous Liberal regime.

Ford campaigned in the 2018 election on a key promise to scrap cap-and-trade but that is no excuse, according to the 30-page court ruling.

“The government’s recent election did not relieve it from its obligation to follow the requirements set out in ... a valid Ontario law.”

Environment Minister Jeff Yurek applauded the court decision while opposition parties said it shows the Conservatives ran roughshod over legal protections for the environment and citizens.

“Their credibility in this province has been suffering under Doug Ford and they took another big hit today,” said New Democrat MPP Peter Tabuns (Toronto-Danforth).

Yurek stood firm, citing Ford’s pledge to save the average family $260 a year by ending cap-and-trade.

“The government campaigned on a clear commitment to eliminate the cap-and-trade program that made life costly for Ontario’s families and businesses,” the environment minister said in a statement.

That response shows no respect for the court decision or the rule of law, added Tabuns, his party’s environment critic.

“This is a government that thinks it’s above the law and is ready to break the law for its own purposes,” he told reporters, predicting the ruling could hurt Andrew Scheer’s federal Conservatives with just over a week until the Oct. 21 national election.

“It’s clear that Doug Ford has been damaging the Conservatives on the campaign trail and I imagine this will just add to that picture,” Tabuns said.

The lawsuit was launched last year by Greenpeace Canada to seek restoration of cap-and-trade, in which caps are placed on pollution by various industries that are in turn allowed to sell pollution credits if they come in under their limits.

“Although we did not receive the precise outcome we were hoping for, the majority of the court agreed that what Premier Ford’s government did was illegal,” said Ian Miron, a lawyer for Ecojustice, which represented Greenpeace in the court proceedings.

Miron said he was pleased “a majority of judges also rejected the government’s arguments that an election is a substitute for the legal obligations under the Environmental Bill of Rights.”

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the court ruling is a timely reminder citizens have a legal right “to be consulted on change that will affect the air we breathe and the water we drink.

“The premier believed that his election victory exempted him from following the law. I am glad the courts reminded Ford that in a democracy, you don’t get to rule by decree,” added Schreiner.

Greenpeace said it considers the court ruling a partial victory a week after thousands of people converged on Queen’s Park in a “climate strike” protest.

“We are pleased that the majority of the court found that the Ford government acted illegally in its haste to cancel carbon pricing in this province,” senior energy strategist Keith Stewart said in a statement.

“Ontarians are marching in the streets demanding real action in response to the climate emergency and we call on the Ford government to listen to the people this time, starting with an abandonment of its challenge to the federal carbon tax.”

Ford has set aside $30 million for a legal challenge of the federal carbon tax imposed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government after cap-and-trade was axed. Ford’s government is also requiring gas stations to post anti-carbon tax stickers, many of which have peeled off or been vandalized.

Those stickers are being challenged in the court by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, which views them as “compelled political speech.”

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In filing its case last September for a judicial review of the cap-and-trade cancellation, Greenpeace argued the Environmental Bill of Rights states Ontario residents are entitled to a 30-day consultation process on environmentally significant regulations and legislation.

Greenpeace described the decision to bypass mandatory notice and consultation as “unreasonable and incorrect, procedurally unfair, and therefore unlawful.”

Tabuns said the lack of penalties for ignoring terms of the Environmental Bill of Rights means the legislation needs to be “stiffened.”

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