Ontario's PC Leader is promising to scrap the Cap-and-Trade program to help the local greenhouse industry.
In a campaign-style stop in Kingsville Monday morning, Patrick Brown committed to eliminating the program and replacing it with a carbon price to give relief to the industry, similar to what British Columbia and Alberta have done.
"We need to keep Ontario competitive for greenhouses. I want to become Premier of Ontario so I can scrap the Cap-and-Trade Scheme and give relief to the greenhouse industry," says Brown.
Brown says since greenhouses use the carbon dioxide they produce, there is a business case to exempt greenhouses from the program.
Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown at Cecelia Acres in Kingsville. (Photo courtesy of Ontario PC party)
"In 2013, the Liberal government gave Mastronardi Produce the Premier's Award for Agri-innovation but in 2014, Mastronardi expanded their strawberry operation in Michigan rather than in Ontario because Ontario has become uncompetitive, imagine that."
Brown says products from greenhouses are one of Ontario's big exports. "We grow food and plants and sell them largely to the United States. But then many jurisdictions in the United States don't have carbon taxes or cap and trade program."