On October 11, 2019, the Ontario Divisional Court found that the Ontario government failed
to comply with its legal obligation to consult before repealing the
Cap and Trade Regulation. However, a majority
of the Court declined to award any relief to the moving party
(Greenpeace Canada). Their reasoning is that because the Ontario
government subsequently repealed the enabling statute (the Climate Change Mitigation and Low-carbon Economy
Act, 2016) and that process is not being challenged, there
is no practical benefit from declaring the earlier decision to
repeal the supporting regulation unlawful.
We have
previously written about the Ontario government's
termination and unwinding of the Cap and Trade Program. On June 15,
2018, then Premier-designate Doug Ford announced "an end to
Ontario's Cap-and-Trade Carbon Tax." A first official step
after the Government was sworn in was to enact a Regulation cancelling the Cap and Trade
Regulation and effectively ending the Cap
