With all this carbon going into the atmosphere we must drastically increase our carbon tax!Quote from: "Lance Leftardashian"
No, we must not Lance.
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No, we must not Lance.
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Re: Forum gossip thread by Brent
We're finally told what Trudeau's carbon tax will cost us. Are you sitting down?
Started by cc, June 27, 2018, 11:03:13 AM
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By Conservative Shadow Minister for Finance, Pierre Poilevre.
Environment Minister Catherine Mckenna admitted an inconvenient truth last week: The Liberal carbon tax would drive jobs out of Canada. The admission came in the form of a partial flip-flop on the issue.
The government quietly posted a document online indicating that 80%-90% of greenhouse gas emissions of large industrial corporations would be exempt from the tax. The reason? The government wants to avoid high costs that push industrial production out of Canada to places without carbon taxes.
But wait; Mckenna has told us all along that the carbon tax would actually help our economy. Now she accepts it could simply move business, jobs and emissions out of Canada to more polluting countries where the emissions would ironically be higher.
According to the great energy CEO Michael Binnion, making one tonne of aluminum generates 11 tonnes of carbon in the U.S., but thanks to abundant hydroelectricity, only two tonnes in B.C. This means, when heavy environmental taxes and regulations drive aluminum production out of B.C., they not only kill Canadian jobs, but increase global greenhouse gas emissions.
For several years, Canada has insisted on rigorous environmental standards for our industries, among the world's toughest. For example, much of the world's oil is beyond dirty, compared to Canadian crude.
So, if the Liberals really cared about the earth, they wouldn't impose a damaging carbon tax on the world's cleanest industries. Instead, they would admit the world needs more Canada, and keep industry and jobs here.
It is not clear if the Liberals have accepted this common-sense argument or if Mckenna climbed down to avoid having the carbon tax lead to mass layoffs in the middle of the coming election year.
Whatever the reason, it's problematic that the Liberals are not making similar exemptions for consumers who will pay the tax on 100% of their heat, gas and other fuels. If the Liberals cared as much about hard-working Canadians as they do about large industrial players, Minister Mckenna would have offered them a break, too. After all, we have to heat our homes. But, unlike industry, we don't have the option of moving if we can't afford Justin Trudeau's carbon tax. So, industrial corporations get a break, but working families pay more. And the government won't even come clean about how much more. No wonder.
If private sector economists are correct, a $50/tonne carbon tax will cost average households more than $1,000 a year, and $1,100 in Nova Scotia where people can least afford it. That's electoral poison for the Liberals. They would rather keep the costs secret and let consumers think the higher prices are the result of greedy gas stations and grocery store owners.
The good news is that across our country, Canadians are catching on. They know they'll pay more for everything. And, they're backing politicians — like the premiers of Saskatchewan and Ontario — who call out the hypocrisy and unfairness upon which the Liberal carbon tax is built.
The pressure is beginning to work. Liberals love carbon taxes. But they love power even more. So they're not just running for election, but running from some of their own policies.
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By Kenneth Green Resident Scholar and Chair in Energy and Environmental Studies and former Senior Director of the Centre for Natural Resource Studies at the Fraser Institute.
Ontarians should mark July 25 on their calendar as Carbon Tax Freedom Day, and Albertans should watch and learn.
On July 25, Ontario's Ford government introduced legislation that would do what was previously unthinkable — unwind the cap-and-trade system implemented under former premier Kathleen Wynne, saving Ontario households $260 per year by reducing the cost of gasoline, diesel and natural gas.
Motorists will enjoy a reduction in gasoline prices by 10 cents per litre.
Ontario's cap-and-trade system is different than Alberta's carbon tax regime, though cap-and-trade is really just a hidden carbon tax.
The government sets a declining limit on greenhouse gas emissions and gives out (or sells) ration credits to emitters who must buy them from other companies (or countries) if they can't reduce emissions enough on their own. Those companies in turn pass on the cost to consumers in the price of goods and services (such as electricity), often in ways consumers can't relate to the cap-and-trade emission rationing.
How is this relevant for Albertans? In several ways. First, it sets a precedent in Canada that carbon pricing, whether it's done through a direct tax (as in British Columbia and Alberta) or as a cap-and-trade system (as in Ontario and Quebec), is just as susceptible to modification or cancellation as any other tax. People who labour under the belief that Canada's joining of the Paris climate accord means that carbon taxes are pretty much the only tax that can't be cut (or terminated) should think again.
Ford's dismantling of Ontario's cap-and-trade shows that not only can governments terminate carbon pricing, but it's not all that expensive to do so. The Government of Ontario estimates it will have to refund up to $5 million in unused allowances (emission credits) purchased by participants in the capand-trade program. Hardly bank-breaking.
Premier Rachel Notley could learn a lesson from Premier Ford and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, and look for common sense "made in Alberta" approaches to air quality and environmental protection, rather than embracing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's plan to demand a centrally-planned energy economy out of Ottawa. There's a good reason Canada has traditionally given provinces the lead on environmental protection. Canada's provinces are highly diverse in their energy resources, economic activities, climatic challenges, ecosystems, proximity to emission sources in the United States, and, subsequently, the control of greenhouse gas emissions.
And Canadians believe climate protection should be a provincial matter, like air and water protection. A new Angus Reid poll shows that two out of three Canadians believe provinces should determine greenhouse gas emission reductions, not the federal government. The numbers are highest in the Prairies where 82% of Saskatchewan respondents and 71% of respondents in Alberta said the provinces should have the final say on carbon pricing. Incidentally, 69% of respondents in Atlantic Canada agreed, as did a majority of British Columbians.
Premier Notley should take a hard look at the poll numbers and put her Alberta Climate Leadership Act playbook into reverse, to let market forces and people's choices drive Alberta's economy rather than heavyhanded regulation and punishing carbon taxes.
Clearly, Albertans deserve their own Carbon Tax Freedom Day.
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