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Climate tops agenda for McGuinty, Charest
News Articles | The Toronto Star | Robert Benzie | September 10, 2009
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Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Quebec Premier Jean Charest meet today amid fears of a federal climate-change plan that would allow Alberta’s oil sands to keep polluting while hindering industry in Central Canada.
McGuinty and Charest are meeting alone before tomorrow’s joint Ontario-Quebec cabinet session to discuss Ottawa’s controversial scheme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Officials in Ontario say there is concern Prime Minister Stephen Harper will cap emissions from manufacturers here and allow energy firms to meet more flexible “intensity” targets that would allow output – and pollution – to grow.
“We do not want something that punishes Ontario and Quebec for the benefit of oil- and gas-producing provinces,” a senior provincial official said yesterday, noting McGuinty and Charest favour a cap-and-trade system similar to that being proposed by U.S. President Barack Obama.
Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice, who met privately with McGuinty yesterday as part of a cross-country crusade to sell the premiers on Ottawa’s plan, insisted it would be “fair and balanced.”
“I have never suggested that we would arrive at a policy that would favour any region or any specific industry,” Prentice said after the meeting. “There’s never been any suggestion on my part that the oil sands or any industry would receive special treatment in any of my consultations,” he said, emphasizing Ottawa’s plan will be part of “a continental cap-and-trade system harmonized” with the U.S.
Despite Prentice’s assurances, Ontario Environment Minister John Gerretsen said the province is deeply worried about the direction the federal government is headed.
“We want to be treated equitably with the other provinces,” he said last night in an interview. Gerretsen said “it’s a natural fear that we have” that the plan will favour oil- and gas-producing provinces.
In the last joint Ontario-Quebec cabinet meeting, on June 2, 2008, McGuinty and Charest announced an interprovincial carbon-trading market. Under their system, companies that produce fewer emissions than their caps permit could sell their unused quota on an open market to big polluting firms that exceed their emissions cap.
Tagged with: climate change, stephen harper, jim prentice, ontario
