A $53.7 million “fee” imposed on electricity users to support green energy programs is not just expensive, it’s illegal, says a study prepared for the C.D. Howe Institute. That’s because the fee is really a tax, says the study. And taxes must be approved by the Legislature. “Almost any economist would say it’s an indirect tax,” says Finn Poschmann of C.D. Howe, who co-authored the study with University of Toronto law professor Benjamin Alarie.

An unconstitutional tax of just a fee to clean up our act? E N V I R O G Y