Chad Walker, Ph.D.

Research - Teaching - Impact

Bill 4 and the Removal of Cap and Trade: A Case Study of Carbon Pricing, Climate Change Law and Public Participation in Ontario, Canada


Journal article


Chad Walker
Journal of Environmental Law and Practice, vol. 33(1), 2020, pp. 35-72

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APA   Click to copy
Walker, C. (2020). Bill 4 and the Removal of Cap and Trade: A Case Study of Carbon Pricing, Climate Change Law and Public Participation in Ontario, Canada. Journal of Environmental Law and Practice, 33(1), 35–72.


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Walker, Chad. “Bill 4 and the Removal of Cap and Trade: A Case Study of Carbon Pricing, Climate Change Law and Public Participation in Ontario, Canada.” Journal of Environmental Law and Practice 33, no. 1 (2020): 35–72.


MLA   Click to copy
Walker, Chad. “Bill 4 and the Removal of Cap and Trade: A Case Study of Carbon Pricing, Climate Change Law and Public Participation in Ontario, Canada.” Journal of Environmental Law and Practice, vol. 33, no. 1, 2020, pp. 35–72.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@article{chad2020a,
  title = {Bill 4 and the Removal of Cap and Trade: A Case Study of Carbon Pricing, Climate Change Law and Public Participation in Ontario, Canada},
  year = {2020},
  issue = {1},
  journal = {Journal of Environmental Law and Practice},
  pages = {35-72},
  volume = {33},
  doi = {},
  author = {Walker, Chad}
}

 Governments from around the world-including Canada-have declared climate change an emergency. This signals the need for aggressive climate change law and policy across national and subnational jurisdictions. At the same time, these shifts may need to be sensitive to public opinion to ensure longevity. In an effort to address a research gap and better understand public participation in environmental law, I share findings from a study that traced public comments and their effect on policy changes, following a decision to remove carbon pricing in Ontario, Canada. Results show that a large majority (78.6%) of people objected to Bill 4 (the Cap and Trade Cancellation Act), with less than 1% in support. There was a diversity of opposition, though concerns over climate change and for future generations were the most salient. There were also indications of political impacts from Bill 4, as even self-described conservatives vowed to fight the new government's changes and vote for more effective climate policy going forward. In light of this clear public mandate, the study then reviews the changes made by government to Bill 4 and subsequent, related policies following the consultation period in order to see what impact comments had. This includes tracing changes and communication with Ontario government officials-both of which show the thousands of comments had little effect. I close the paper with a discussion of implications and future research in the area of public participation in environmental law. 

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