Rod Phillips, minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, and Solicitor General Sylvia Jones visited the OPP Port Credit detachment on April 17 to talk about how the federal government’s carbon tax will affect correctional facilities and OPP detachments as part of the Ontario government’s fight against the tax.
The carbon tax came into effect on April 1 and the provincial government says its financial burden is already impacting a number of institutions, including correctional facilities and OPP detachments. The province estimates that the carbon tax will impact Ontario’s correctional facilities and OPP detachments by increasing annual heating costs by over $1.4 million by 2022, which could be used for 30 new cruisers or 43 drug-testing devices among other things, according to the statement on April 17. The province cites the goals in the Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan as examples of how to fight climate change without imposing a carbon tax.
“The federal government’s unconstitutional carbon tax will drain resources that could otherwise be spent on protecting our families, supporting victims, or holding criminals accountable for their actions,” Jones said. “Our government has promised to protect what matters most, and few things matter more than the security of the people. We want police, firefighters, paramedics, corrections officers and other frontline responders to be able to continue providing the potentially life-saving services we rely on.”
The statement also mentioned the 11.1 cent per litre increase to fuel charge that could cost the OPP over $2 million in fuel costs by 2022 for their 4,000 road vehicles.
“The carbon tax will impact our province’s institutions that provide essential services to keep the people of Ontario safe including police services,” Phillips said. “That is why we are committed to using every tool at our disposal, including our courts, to challenge the federal government’s unconstitutional carbon tax.”
Ontario’s case challenging the constitutionality of the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act is being heard by the Court of Appeal this week. Critics of the Ontario government’s fight against the tax cite the cap-and-trade system of carbon management, which was scrapped by the Ford government at the end of October last year, as an alternative to the carbon tax. The system limited how many tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution businesses and institutions could emit while also allowing them to buy or sell credits for emissions if they exceeded the cap or had surplus credits.
See costs increases for local facilities below and see a full list for the province here. Read our previous article about Ontario’s fight against the carbon tax related to hospital costs here.
| OPP Facilities | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
| Lincoln M Alexander Building – Orillia | $86,791 | $130,297 | $173,803 | $217,309 |
| OPP Detachment – Bracebridge | $1,013 | $1,520 | $2,028 | $2,535 |
| OPP Detachment – Huntsville | $199 | $299 | $398 | $498 |
| Jails, Detention and Correctional Facilities and Treatment Centres | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 |
| Central North Correctional Centre (Penetanguishene) | $33,494 | $50,283 | $67,073 | $83,862 |
