MPP says Ontarians will pay for climate change action plan

Hastings County’s MPP is concerned the province’s new climate change action plan will make life more expensive for Ontarians.

Prince Edward-Hastings MPP Todd Smith says the document will now make anyone selling a home have an energy audit, increase the price of gas, and endanger natural gas use in homes.

Smith says the plan will make residents pay more for gas and electricity, while some of the province’s biggest polluters will not have to buy carbon credits under the cap-and-trade program for years.

He says energy audits will cost taxpayers $90-million a year.

Smith says, ultimately, he supports action against climate change, but not when it will punish consumers, homeowners, and working class people.