Windsor Chamber of Commerce calls for end of Ontario cap and trade program

The Windsor region’s Chamber of Commerce has joined forces with others from across Ontario to demand the province kill its cap and trade program, saying it is having a devastating economic impact on local business.

Matt Marchand, president and CEO of the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce, said Sunday the stakes are high in Essex County. He said the potentially high cost of working under the cap and trade system could have businesses, such as Essex County’s greenhouses and agri-food operations, fleeing to coal burning jurisdictions like Ohio.

Editor's note: Read Treena Hein's article Ontario growers move south, in which she discusses cap and trade challenges.

“It’s the layering of all these costs — the 400 percent increase in electricity prices, now greenhouses have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in carbon taxes,” said Marchand. “And to what end? All we end up doing is shipping the jobs to Ohio so they can plug into a coal plant. I think at some point you have to ask yourself, does this make a lot of sense? I think the collective answer is no it doesn’t.”

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