“I want my carbon cheque!” Green Party of Ontario calls for a carbon fee and dividend

Toronto – At their annual policy convention this weekend, the Green Party of Ontario will kick off its Ontario carbon fee and dividend petition – an appeal to the Wynne government to have carbon polluters pay their fair share.  
Ontario is not on track to reach its greenhouse gas reduction targets, according to Gord Miller, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario.
 
“All this extreme weather is threatening our well-being and costing us billions,” said GPO leader Mike Schreiner. The economic impact of climate change in Canada is estimated to be over $5 billion by 2020. Insurance claims for extreme weather events cost Canadians over $3.2 billion in 2013. 
 
“I want my carbon cheque, and so do others,” said Schreiner. “The GPO wants the people of Ontario to be rewarded for their individual and collective efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. I’m challenging Premier Wynne to move from political spin to real action on climate change.”
 
Making polluters pay — and distributing the revenues to the people — is the basis of the B.C. carbon tax, adopted in 2008. Since then, B.C. has seen lower emissions, increased jobs and economic growth, and more than $1.3 billion given back to B.C. taxpayers.
 
The petition’s announcement comes as a timely show of solidarity for those fighting to draw attention to climate change at the People’s Climate March in New York this weekend.
  
The GPO’s online petition can be found here or at www.gpo.ca/carbon
 
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