Ontario rejects carbon taxes

TORONTO, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Ontario won't join British Columbia in creating a carbon tax, Premier Dalton McGuinty said.

McGuinty made the announcement his province won't be part of the plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He vetoed the idea in favor of other alternatives to tackle climate change.

The tax, a North American first, is "well-suited to B.C., its economy and the direction it's pursuing," McGuinty said. "But we're doing something differently here in Ontario that suits our economy and the direction that we're pursuing."

Ontario's strategy will include a commitment to shut down the province's coal-fired generating plants.

"It is not an easy thing to do because you've got to convert to cleaner sources of electricity and you've got to convince people to use less electricity," he said.

British Columbia became the first jurisdiction in North America to introduce a carbon tax, but it's failed to take off in other provinces. Alberta, the largest greenhouse gas emitter in Canada, opposes a carbon tax, and Manitoba also said it won't consider it.

Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald has said he may consider a carbon tax in the future but that he needs more convincing information proving that a carbon tax actually results in lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Quebec, however, introduced a form of carbon tax last year that directs revenues to initiatives supporting green technology.