DOUG FORD, who is due to be sworn in as Ontario’s premier on June 29th, will not dally. The “very first item” on his agenda will be to “cancel the Liberal cap-and-trade carbon tax”, he promised after leading his Progressive Conservative Party to victory in an election on June 7th. Motorists are being “gouged at the pumps”, he claimed. “The cap-and-trade, the carbon tax, they’re gone, they’re done,” Mr Ford vowed in the Trumpian cadences that he has brought to Canadian politics.

This will please suburban drivers, who provided many of the votes that gave the Progressive Conservatives 76 of the 124 seats in Ontario’s legislature, ending nearly 15 years of Liberal rule. Ontario’s cap-and-trade scheme, which it shares with the province of Quebec and the American state of California, added about 3% to the price of petrol last year. Canada’s Liberal prime minister, Justin Trudeau, will be less pleased. Mr Ford is taking direct aim at his plan to set a national price on carbon in…Continue reading
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