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Bill Kelly: Doug Ford’s costly environmental plans

Click to play video: 'Doug Ford says his first act as Premier will be to scrap the carbon tax'
Doug Ford says his first act as Premier will be to scrap the carbon tax
Doug Ford says his first act as Ontario premier will be to scrap the province's cap-and-trade system and challenge federal rules on carbon pricing – Jun 15, 2018

He’s not even officially sworn in as Ontario’s next premier, but Doug Ford is already racking up a considerable bill for his decisions to re-vamp Ontario’s environmental policies.

Earlier this week, Ford announced that Ontario was bailing out of the cap and trade agreement with California and Quebec.

Whether you think the cap and trade program was worthwhile, it was a deal that was struck, and backing out of a deal has financial consequences.

A number of companies had purchased carbon credits under the plan to the tune of about $3 billion. Now that Ontario has nixed the plan, those companies will likely come after Ontario to get their money back.

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Click to play video: 'Trudeau reflects on Doug Ford’s decision to not bring in a carbon tax'
Trudeau reflects on Doug Ford’s decision to not bring in a carbon tax

WATCH: Justin Trudeau reflects on Doug Ford’s decision to not bring in a carbon tax

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Ford will either have to hand over $3 billion of our tax money to compensate the aggrieved companies, or fight a lengthy court battle, which we would pay for, and possibly still have to shell out the cash.

And speaking of legal costs, we also found out that  Ford is budgeting $30-million to fund his legal challenge to the federal government’s carbon tax.

Ironic, isn’t it?

We just dumped Kathleen Wynne’s government because of its reckless use of taxpayer’s money to fund an ideological agenda — and it appears that we’ve replaced them with a government that plans to do the same thing.

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I don’t think that’s the kind of change Ontario voters were looking for.

Bill Kelly is the host of Bill Kelly Show on Global News Radio 900 CHML.

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