GUELPH, Ont. - Ontario won't join British Columbia in creating a carbon tax to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Thursday, adding his province's name to a growing list that have vetoed the idea in favour of other alternatives to tackle climate change.
The tax, a North American first, is "well-suited to B.C., its economy and the direction it's pursuing,'' McGuinty said after touring a high school in Guelph, Ont.
"But we're doing something differently here in Ontario that suits our economy and the direction that we're pursuing.''
Ontario's strategy includes a renewed commitment to shutting down the province's biggest polluters - coal-fired generating plants - which the McGuinty Liberals failed to accomplish during their first term in government.
"It is not an easy thing to do because you've got to convert to cleaner sources of electricity and you've got to convince people to use less electricity,'' said McGuinty, whose brother David is the Liberal environment critic in the House of Commons.
The province is also investing heavily in public transit, particularly in the Greater Toronto Area, McGuinty added.
The premier wouldn't say whether he would consider a carbon tax in the future, but said it definitely won't be in the next provincial budget, expected in the spring.
British Columbia became the first jurisdiction in North America to introduce a carbon tax on consumers when Finance Minister Carole Taylor tabled her provincial budget on Tuesday. But it's failed to take off in other provinces.
Alberta, by far the largest greenhouse gas emitter in Canada, opposes a carbon tax, and Manitoba also said it won't consider it.
Federal Environment Minister John Baird has nixed the idea as well.
Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald has said he may consider a carbon tax in the future, but that he needs more convincing information proving that a carbon tax actually results in lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
Quebec, however, introduced a form of carbon tax last year that directs revenues to initiatives supporting green technology.
The Quebec tax collects just under one cent per litre from petroleum companies in the province, raising about $200 million a year to pay for energy-saving initiatives.
