Northeastern Ontario industries mostly silent on how much they pay in carbon tax

After fighting the federal government for years over carbon pricing, the province is now collecting carbon taxes for the first time, expected to total $131 million dollars this year.

The Ford government has yet to say how it will spend the money it collects from large industrial emitters that put out at least 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

None of the large industrial emitters in northeastern Ontario would reveal how much they've paid in carbon tax since it was introduced in 2017 under the cap and trade system of the previous Liberal government.

But at least one would like to see the province return some of the money it collects to help companies prepare for a carbon-free future.

Belgian firm Carmeuse operates a lime kiln just off Highway 17 near Blind River that has had pretty consistent emissions over the last decade, reporting that it produced some 117,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2020.

Gem Gercek, the company's area operations manager, says while they do burn coal and natural gas in the kiln, 65 per cent of the carbon dioxide they produce is inherent to the process of turning limestone into lime. 

"We have no means or control to reduce those emissions," he said. 

"If you'd like to produce lime, you have to produce CO2."

He says that means the ever-increasing carbon taxes will take a bigger and bigger bite out of their profits, Carmeuse could lose business to competitors from outside Ontario and the 40 local jobs in Blind River could become less stable. 

"The tax we pay increases significantly year over year," Gercek. 

"And this year is the worst."

Gercek says he'd like to see the Ontario government return some of the carbon tax revenue to help industry decarbonize.

At the lime kiln, that would mean capturing and concentrating the carbon dioxide and then storing it underground.

"So, right now what we have in place is more of a stick, but there's no carrot in place yet," he said.