The Windsor-Essex Regional and Leamington District Chamber of Commerce are asking the provincial government to delay the implementation of the cap and trade program.
"We have to really take a step back, understand the implications of cap and trade on investment decisions, on jobs, recognizing that we have one of the cleanest [electricity ] grids in the world," says Matt Marchand, president and CEO of the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The cap and trade program is scheduled to come into effect on January 1, 2017 and will limit the amount of green house gases a company can emit. Large producers will be exempt under the proposed Ontario cap and trade program.
The chambers are asking for the delay on behalf of the region's vegetable growers who will see huge costs increases making it difficult to compete with neighbouring markets.
"We're looking at expanding, having said that with this new cap and trade coming into effect I've put everything on hold because at the end of the day I still wont be in that threshold of having that exemption," says Gerry Mastronardi and T, G & G Greenhouses.
The average greenhouse vegetable farmer in Ontario is looking at an $80,000 hit annually because of the new tax. The cost is estimated to rise to $220,000 by 2022 according to representatives from Ontario's greenhouse farming sector.
Guido van het Hof with the Soave Agricultural Group says it's really unclear how much it could cost in the end.
"You have to enter into auction. By default the auction price is going to be a function of the supply and demand of the credits that have to be obtained. So it is very untransparent for us and it's difficult to quantify what eventually the economic impact will be for us," says van het Hof.
The chambers are hoping to delay the program for one to two year to investigate the true ramifications of the program.