Former U.S. VP Gore praises Ontario’s cap-and-trade system during Toronto visit
TORONTO — As debate over how to combat climate change gears up to be a key issue in Ontario’s spring election, former U.S. vice president and environmental crusader Al Gore lauded the Liberal government’s cap-and-trade system on Thursday and criticized politicians who wanted to dismantle it.
Gore, who met with Premier Kathleen Wynne in Toronto, called cap and trade better than a carbon tax and suggested the province’s Progressive Conservatives, who are picking a new leader this weekend, are headed in the wrong direction on climate policy with their promises to scrap the Liberal system.
“I don’t want to interfere in your politics but I have to speak out when I see all of the candidates in the other party proposing to go backwards and to say we’re going to undo the progress that created jobs and made Ontario a model for the entire world,” he said.
All four candidates hoping to helm Ontario’s Tories have pledged to dismantle the Liberal government’s cap-and-trade system and also fight the imposition of a carbon tax by the federal government. Some have even threatened to take Ottawa to court if it imposed carbon pricing on the province.