Ontario To Challenge Federal Carbon Pricing Statute As Unconstitutional

The Government of Ontario recently filed a reference with the Court of Appeal challenging the federal government's carbon tax legislation as unconstitutional. On July 25, 2018, the newly-elected Ontario government introduced legislation to cancel the Ontario Cap and Trade Program.

The federal government adopted the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act¹ on June 21, 2018. The Act imposes minimum carbon pricing in provinces that have not enacted their own carbon-pricing mechanisms:

• Part 1 of the Act levies charges on fuel delivered, used, brought into or produced in a listed province and combustible waste burned in a listed province.
• Part 2 of the Act establishes a cap-and-trade regime for pricing industrial greenhouse gas emissions and levies a charge on facilities that emit greenhouse gases in a quantity that exceeds their emissions limit.