Canadian businesses of all sizes are prepared to accept carbon pricing as a cost of doing business.- Canadian Chamber of Commerce report<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
“Business wants to play its part in the fight against climate change, but our public policy has to balance our climate objectives with the need to ensure Canada remains attractive to start or grow a business, and to invest,” said Perrin Beatty, the group’s president and CEO and a former Conservative MP, in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aaron Henry, the group’s director of natural resources and environmental policy, and the author of the new report, said the group’s members believe “carbon pricing is probably the most effective mechanism of emissions reduction.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative government, led by Premier Doug Ford, recently scrapped its cap-and-trade carbon pricing system. The new report says businesses need stable carbon pricing legislation that survives changes of government. (Liam Richards\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement accompanying the release of the report, he added, “Canadian businesses of all sizes are prepared to accept carbon pricing as a cost of doing business, but remain very concerned that governments will continue to use it as a political bargaining chip instead of delivering a pricing policy that is simple and works well.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report cites “conclusive” evidence from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development about the high cost of climate change, including impacts like more intense floods, fires and storms, and for the need to reduce emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘Stable, predictable, straightforward’<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
“Our need to transition to a low carbon economy is clear, but it is equally clear that businesses must have assurances that the regulatory regime guiding this transition will be stable, predictable, and straightforward,” the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative government, led by Premier Doug Ford, recently scrapped its cap-and-trade carbon pricing system<\/a> and replaced it with regulations that include a fund for specific emissions-reduction projects<\/a> that companies can apply to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Henry warned that such “U-turns” could be damaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that there’s lots of evidence that “the predictability of policies, their durability from one government to the next, is actually a huge indicator for the ability of companies to make emissions reductions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The report says carbon pricing should be accompanied by a reduction in other regulations targeting emissions, such as the federal government’s proposed phase-out of coal-fired electricity generation and clean fuel standards. (Graham Hughes\/THE CANADIAN PRESS)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that when the federal government, which backs carbon pricing, and provinces each go a different way, that leads to “fragmented islands” of climate policy across Canada. Earlier this year, the Chamber of Commerce released another report criticizing the burden of complex, inconsistent and overlapping rules from different levels of government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n