By David Reevely, Ottawa Citizen, March 6, 2018
The provincial government refuses to say whether Ontario companies were big buyers in the first international auction for carbon permits, sending cash to Quebec or California for the right to emit greenhouse gases.
Joining up with those two jurisdictions in the “Western Climate Initiative” is the driveshaft of the Liberal government’s climate-change plan. Four times a year, they put millions of tonnes’ worth of “allowances” up for bids, letting certain heavy emitters (and a handful of speculators) buy rights to release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Every year the supply will shrink, increasing the pressure on power companies, fossil-fuel vendors, railways and others to get more efficient.
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/reevely-ontario-makes-millions-auctioning-carbon-permits-but-wont-say-who-bought-them