From Canadians for Affordable Energy

Even if it fails to hit its emissions targets (which it will,) the economic consequences of enacting this plan are very serious. It would make Canada the only country in the world which willingly and purposefully stifles its single largest revenue stream. 

At this point, everyone in Canada has heard about the Carbon Tax and had a chance to experience its negative effects. But less has been said about another harmful policy dreamed up by the Trudeau government — the Emissions Cap on the oil and gas sector. Just like the Carbon Tax, the Emissions Cap is part of Trudeau’s larger program to try and achieve “Net Zero” greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, which will have no positive impact on the environment, but which will be ruinous to Canada’s natural resource sector and to the national economy.

In their 2021 platform, the Liberals made a commitment to “cap and cut emissions from the oil and gas sector” and proclaimed that that industry must reduce emissions “at a pace and scale needed to achieve net-zero by 2050.” As promised, in December 2023 the Trudeau government proposed an Emissions Cap to reduce GHG emissions in the oil and gas sector by 42 percent by 2030. Keep in mind Canada contributes only 1.5% of global emissions, so this plan, even if accomplished, would reduce global emissions by less than one half of one percent.

Even if it fails to hit its emissions targets (which it will,) the economic consequences of enacting this plan are very serious. It would make Canada the only country in the world which willingly and purposefully stifles its single largest revenue stream. After all, the oil and gas industry generates $45 billion per year in annual economic activity, and contributes $170 billion per year to the GDP.

But don’t take my word for it. According to a Deloitte report commissioned by the Government of Alberta, an Emissions Cap would lead to a 10% decrease in Alberta’s oil production and a 16% decrease in conventional natural gas production. Fossil fuel production would decrease in B.C., Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland as well. Other industries connected to the oil and gas sector such as the mining, refinery products, and utilities are also expected to be impacted and will experience a decrease in output in Alberta and the rest of Canada.

The report goes on to state that in 2040 “Alberta’s GDP is estimated to be lower by 4.5% and Canada’s GDP by 1.0% compared to the baseline.”

It notes that because it is assumed that “the Cap is a permanent measure, the shift in the output of the oil and gas sector and associated losses are permanent and accumulate over time. Cumulatively, over the 2030 to 2040 period, we estimate that real GDP in Alberta is $191 billion lower and real GDP in the Rest of Canada is $91 billion lower, compared to the baseline scenario ($2017 dollars).”

Of course, the environmentalists will crow that the oil and gas industry is dying anyway and the demand for oil and gas around the world is slowly decreasing, but this is simply not true.

Global demand for oil and gas is only growing and will continue to do so. According to the report, “Based on current policy and before the impact of the Cap, we expect: Oil production in Canada to increase by 27% by 2030 and 32% by 2040 from 2021 levels; and Gas production in Canada to increase by 10% by 2030 and 16% by 2040 from 2021 levels.”

And this isn’t the only study which projects negative outcomes from this policy. The Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) released a study which describes how the Trudeau government’s proposed Emissions Cap for the energy sector would “cost the Canadian economy between $44.8 billion and $79.3 billion a year” and would “cause substantial losses, without achieving any net reduction in global emission.”

You can read the study here.

Plus it is worth noting that this emissions cap will result in “substantial losses without achieving any net reduction in global emissions.”

Why? Because of the increase in global demands for oil and gas, we can either produce those resources here or get them from another country that has no environmental, much less labour standards, such as Russia, Venezuela, and Iran.

To add insult to injury for the oil and gas producing provinces, and as I’ve pointed out in the past, this cap on emissions would apply only to the oil and gas sector. This emissions cap would not apply to the concrete industry, the automotive industry, or the mining industry. And — surprise surprise — it certainly won’t apply to Montreal’s lucrative jet-building industry.

But take heed: this isn’t simply an Alberta issue. This is a Canadian issue and one that everyone in Canada should be concerned about.

The umbrella of Net Zero by 2050 is large and far reaching, and an emissions cap is simply one part of a multi-layered attack on our economy and way of life. Carbon taxes, layered on top of a Clean Fuel Standard, layered on top of pipeline blockages, layered on top of Bills C-48 and C-69, preventing oil from being shipped from other parts of the world — will run counter to our national interests, and endanger the Canadian way of life for generations to come.

If Canadians are now vehemently opposed to carbon taxes, as we suggested would be the case half a dozen years ago, wait for this unnecessary burden to befall them.

In the words made famous by the Canadian rock legend BTO, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”

Dan McTeague is President of Canadians for Affordable Energy.

From Canadians for Affordable Energy

In a shocking turn of events, just weeks before the upcoming provincial election, Eby said that if re-elected his government would end the provincial carbon tax on consumers, provided the federal government removed the “legal backstop” that requires them to keep a tax in place.

Here’s a surprising development – the Carbon Tax, which was a keystone policy of the Green Left just a few short years ago is now a political pariah. Though, for some of us, it isn’t so surprising.

As you will recall, the federal Carbon Tax back was one of the Trudeau Liberals’ first announcements upon taking power. It was meant to set the tone for their commitment to tackling the “climate crisis,” and achieving net zero carbon emissions. The policy required that all provinces and territories which did not have their own carbon pricing scheme in place would have one imposed on them by Ottawa.

The Carbon Tax had buy-in from Green apologists all over the country, including many Conservative politicians. You may recall Patrick Brown, former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, stunning an audience of PC Members in 2016 when he announced. “Climate change is a fact… We have to do something about it, and that something includes putting a price on carbon.” Ever the political opportunist, Brown had bought into the notion that you can’t win if you aren’t in favor of a carbon tax.

And that is how it was sold. The carbon tax was inevitable. And it would come with all sorts of environmental benefits – ending forest fires, floods, and combatting all manner of bad weather. Plus, the price would mainly be paid by greedy corporations. The average Canadian, they said, would actually be getting more money back on the tax rebate than they’d paid in the first place. In their telling, the carbon tax sounded like it was all carrots and no sticks!

Of course, that was too good to be true. There were, in fact, plenty of sticks. Sky-high gas prices, heating bills, food prices, and an overall increase in our cost of living. Eventually the Parliamentary Budget Office issued a report which confirmed what many Canadians had already learned, that the tax would be a net loss for most households, with the middle class being particularly hard hit.

No wonder public support started to wane, and then to spiral. Even Trudeau’s desperate rebranding – he started calling the tax “pollution pricing” – couldn’t save it.

A Leger poll released earlier this year revealed that 7 in 10 Canadians do not support the Carbon Tax. It helps that Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre has made ‘Axe the Tax’ a cornerstone of his campaign, consistently making the case that the Carbon Tax is harming consumers and making the country less competitive.

What was once considered the unsinkable Carbon Tax is now taking on water. And lots of it.

We saw early signs of this earlier this year when the annual Carbon Tax increase, scheduled for April 1^st, was loudly opposed by a number of premiers. Even Liberal premiers, such as Andrew Furey of Newfoundland and Labrador, pleaded with Justin Trudeau to hit pause on the increase.

More recently, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has been waffling on the tax as currently structured, suggesting that it has “put the burden on the backs of working people.” Of course, as the Conservatives like to remind him, Singh voted in favor of this same tax twenty-four times in the House of Commons.

But perhaps the most significant nail in the carbon tax coffin came courtesy BC Premier David Eby. Remember that it was BC, under the Liberal premier Gordon Campbell, who implemented the first Carbon Tax in 2008 – not just the first in Canada, but rather, the provincial government claims, the first “revenue neutral” Carbon Tax in the world!

The Carbon Tax has been a hallmark of BC’s climate policies for nearly two decades. But in a shocking turn of events, just weeks before the upcoming provincial election, Eby said that if re-elected his government would end the provincial carbon tax on consumers, provided the federal government removed the “legal backstop” that requires them to keep a tax in place.

With Eby’s main opposition also pledged to repeal, it seems that even in the policy’s birthplace, no one wants to touch the carbon tax with a ten foot pole!

Now Eby defended the move by claiming essentially that the Trudeau Liberals’ fumbling of the issue has “badly damaged” what he says was the political consensus on the carbon tax. But the reality is that this was bound to happen eventually. In my capacity as President of Canadians for Affordable Energy, I’ve been warning Canadians for years that Trudeau’s carbon tax increase, compounded by his Clean Fuel Standard, which I’ve dubbed the Second Carbon Tax, would not only raise the price of fuel, but would increase the price of all goods, groceries included.

Once Canadians saw what the tax actually cost, and felt its devastating impact on their ability to make ends meet, to fill their gas tanks, heat their homes, and feed their families, they were bound to turn against it. This is exactly what we’re seeing now. And with elections looming, as go the voters so go the politicians who need their votes.

It seems the Carbon Tax is sinking and the rats are jumping ship.

Dan McTeague is President of Canadians for Affordable Energy.