It’s a New Year, which means new costs for Ontarians.
Skyrocketing gas prices isn’t what most hoped for to kick off 2017, but it came as a rude awakening of the long-awaited Cap and Trade system.
Kathleen Wynne’s government has teased the plan for months, to a mostly unimpressed public.
The regulations are shrouded in controversy, as well, with unclear carbon pricing and seemingly carte blanche government ability to grant free carbon licences to whomever they choose.
Darren Chapman, a professor of economics at Fanshawe College, says that it isn’t just the public who is left in the dark about much of the system, but that experts have been left scratching their heads as well.
“The Cap and Trade system, the Ontario system for handling carbon pricing, is very questionable, and a number of economists throughout Canada believe that,” says Chapman.
Despite criticism, the Cap and Trade is already making life a little more expensive. Gas prices, home heating, and small businesses have all felt the effects so far, and Chapman think this is just the beginning.
“No organization or individual can sustain the level of increase in energy that we’ve seen in Ontario,” Chapman says. “And this is going to have a dramatic effect on the productivity and the benefits of Ontarians. ”
While Chapman agrees that the motive of the plan, to cut back on carbon emissions from numerous different sources, hold merit, it is the rushed feeling of the execution that is putting stress on all energy users.
Experts are unsure of how the economy will react to long-term exposure to Cap and Trade, but most are in agreement that the Liberal’s blanket approach may do more harm than good.
