Ontario PC Environment Critic Lisa Thompson says the Liberals are ignoring an urgent request by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce to halt plans for a cap and tax scheme next year.
Huron Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson says a chamber letter to Environment Minister Glen Murray asked that the start date be delayed a year to 2018.
The chamber did not get an answer to just how much emissions trading will cost Ontario businesses and families.
Thompson says the scheme will take more money out of taxpayers pockets, and she has serious concerns it will put Ontario industry at a competitive disadvantage and lead to job losses.
The chamber has been asking for an economic analysis of the new tax for over a year with no response.
But Thompson says private sector estimates suggest the cap and trade plan will cost the average household about $160 more next year, and nearly $900 more by 2030.
She adds small business are estimated to be hit with $170,000 more in energy costs in 2017, and $900,000 more by 2030.
"The minister routinely admits that the Liberals' reckless cap-and-tax scheme will kill jobs and cost Ontarians 'a lot of money.' Yet he won't say how much," Thompson says. "The truth is this scheme is a tax on everything and will increase the cost of gas, groceries, electricity and home-heating. The government owes it to the people of this province to finally come clean and reveal how much this scheme will cost families and businesses."
