Ontario's divisional court says the Ford Government was unlawful in how it cancelled the former Liberals' cap-and-trade program, but dismissed a request for a judicial review in a split-decision.
There is no order to bring the program back or that the government should pay any costs.
"The government was obliged under the EBR (Environmental Bill of Rights) to engage in a process of public participation," one of the three judges said. "The government's recent election did not relieve it from its obligation to follow the requirements set out in the EBR, a valid Ontario law."
The ruling also said the ERB would be largely "nugatory" if a government could simply "ignore its requirements because the government has already made up its mind, prior to public participation, and will not listen to or consider public input in respect to its proposal."
Scrapping the program was one of Premier Doug Ford's campaign promises, but the decision said that still didn't meet the technical thresholds laid out in the EBR, one of the rulings said, adding it was "made without regard to the factors to be considered in making this decision was unlawful."
"The government failed to comply with its legal obligations," it said. "The preceding election did not relieve it of that obligation."
The third judge found the ERB was not violated.
"The Legislature has spoken and its will is the law. The rule of law, to the extent that it is relevant, requires the court to apply constitutionally valid laws," the third judge said.
Ecojustice and Greenpeace Canada, who brought the suit forwarrd, both reacted to the news.
"Premier Doug Ford did not receive carte blanche to ignore the legal rights of Ontarians just because he won an election – and on this issue, the court agreed with us today," Ecojustice lawyer Ian Miron said.
Miron told NEWSTALK1010 that despite the fact there's no financial penalty or review ordered of how cap-and-trade was scrapped, he does say it's an important victory.
"We certainly hope that any government, whether it's this government of any government in Canada, complys with the law when they make decisions," he said.
Miron said there's multiple steps the government could've taken to avoid the ruling, such as consulting with youth who aren't at the legal voting age, as well as demonstrating it took all public input seriously from various stakeholders.
Greenpeace Canada senior energy strategist Keith Stewart said his group is pleased, "even if it declined to make a formal declaration."
Environment Minister Jeff Yurek said in a statement it was pleased with the dismissal.
"Our government campaigned on a clear commitment to eliminate the cap-and-trade program that made life costly for Ontario's families and businesses," he said.
"Our plan serves as proff that you can both oppose a carbon tax and continue to do more to fight climae change - you don't have to choose."