Ontario thumbs its nose at Ottawa and Washington

The cap-and-trade debate is getting more fired up . . . or offset . . . or making others green with dollar signs or exasperation . . . the provincial government of Ontario is about to introduce legislation pushing a cap-and-trade system.

Picture California, Texas, and New York, and the next six largest US states' population combined, and you've got the idea of how influential Ontario is in Canada. It's home of the country's capital and largest city, and has most of the country's largest banks and cities.

While the province's premier, Dalton McGuinty, was evasive about some tough questions, including if and when the provinces coal plants would close, the degree to which polluters would be penalized, or even how the system would work, the impending legislation shows that this debate won't go away--and may be one of the cogs in sorting out how we can wean ourselves off of fossil-based fuels.

And any step taken by a Canadian government is a great step--yes, the USA consumes about 25% of the world's energy, but surveys show that the country with the highest energy consumption per-capita is . . . Canada!