OTTAWA—The federal Liberals are prepared to impose a carbon price on Ontario if Doug Ford makes good on his promise to scrap the province’s cap-and-trade system.The potential for a climate change showdown between the federal government and Canada’s most populous province dominated Ottawa’s reaction to the Ontario election results Friday.Ford was elected on a promise to scrap Ontario’s cap-and-trade system, slash the price of gasoline for consumers, and fight the federal government’s carbon pricing plan at the Supreme Court.During question period on Parliament Hill Friday, the Conservative opposition framed Ford’s victory as a repudiation of the federal Liberal’s plan to enforce carbon pricing across the country, beginning in 2019.“The agenda of high taxes and big government, of carbon taxes on working people, has been rejected by Ontarians. Will the prime minister take that message?” said Carleton MP Pierre Poilievre.Jonathan Wilkinson, a Vancouver MP and parliamentary secretary to Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, accused Conservatives of neglecting established science and failing to have a plan to combat climate change.Outside the Commons, he told the Star the government wants to work with the incoming Ford administration on carbon pricing. But if Ford scraps Ontario’s existing system, as promised, Ottawa is prepared to impose one. “We need to move forward, and the Government of Canada intends to move forward,” Wilkinson said.In general, under a cap-and-trade system, companies are given a limit or cap that sets in place how much greenhouse gas they can each discharge. If a firm can reduce emissions below its limit it can sell the excess. Another firm that goes over its cap can buy this excess. Over time the cap is reduced to encourage an overall reduction in emissions. Ford won a commanding majority government Thursday night, taking 76 out of 114 ridings across the province. Th ...
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