The Pembina Institute is thankful for the opportunity to share our views on the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks recently released Industrial Emission Performance Standards consultation paper (herein the ‘‘EPS’’). We are encouraged to see the Ontario government acknowledge the role of pricing pollution to reduce harmful emissions and build a competitive economy by proposing to create a system that sets a price signal through performance standards for heavy industry. However, we are disheartened by the timing of this proposal and the ongoing anti carbon pricing rhetoric from the Government of Ontario. Both irresponsibly create confusion and investor uncertainty for Ontarians, and potentially undermine Canada’s ability to implement its climate change plan.
The federal output-based pricing system (OBPS) was implemented in January 2019 and is the law in Ontario. In addition to continuing to muddy the investment outlook, the application of the EPS, to the extent that it is weaker than the OBPS would equate to the Ontario government again rolling back climate action at a time when we can least afford it.
