Ontario introduces cap-and-trade act

Ontario unveiled a bill to put in place cap and trade, permitting its participation in the WCI.

Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal party was scheduled to introduce the bill in the provincial legislature Wednesday.

McGuinty told reporters the Canadian province is moving ahead with a cap-and-trade system because it can no longer wait for Ottawa and Washington to put together a similar plan to fight climate change, according to press reports.

The bill would allow Ontario to put in place a cap-and-trade scheme necessary for it to take part in the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), a multi-sector carbon trading programme consisting of seven US states and four Canadian provinces.

Ontario joined the WCI in July last year as part of its goal to cut absolute greenhouse gas emissions 6 per cent below 1990 levels by 2014, 15 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, and 80 per cent below them by 2050.

The WCI members together have pledged to reduce their cumulative greenhouse gas emissions 15 per cent below 2005 levels by the year 2020 through a regional cap-and-trade system.

The timing of Ontario’s introduction of cap-and-trade legislation closely follows the actions of Quebec, also a member of WCI, which introduced its own cap-and-trade bill in its legislature on 12 May.

Highly-populated Ontario is the second-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in Canada.

Its greenhouse gas emissions per capita are 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Road transportation accounts for 25 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions, industry accounts for 21 per cent and the electricity sector accounts for 15 per cent.