To the Editor

MPP Laurie Scott claims that when the Ford government does get around to doing something about climate change “it’s not going to be footed by the taxpayers.” Of course this was exactly the case for the cap-and-trade program this government just cancelled.

Under cap and trade large polluters had a choice of either buying emission permits or reducing emissions. Many chose to do both.

Funds from permit sales were directed to greenhouse gas reduction projects such as the Haliburton bioheat project. Ms. Scott goes on to suggest that the government “is looking at all projects” before cancellation but again what we actually see is the government simply taking an axe to anything funded by cap and trade including money-saving energy efficiency projects for schools and hospitals.

Clearly they are desperate to recover every penny they can in order to return it to the large polluters who are now out of pocket and not likely to agree to the government’s magic-wand plan to make its financial obligations disappear. As your front-page article on Durham’s climate efforts makes clear the costs of inaction on climate change are going to dwarf the “savings” generated by cancelling cap and trade. Crying in our $1 beer is not going to help.

Brad Cundiff