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Economy

Politics the only consistency in carbon tax policy

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4 minute read

From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

By Lee Harding

Never mind that there is no easy connection between CO2 and temperatures, except in […]

The misplaced idea that carbon dioxide is pollution undergirds the dubious concept of the carbon tax. Never mind that there is no easy connection between CO2 and temperatures, except in the easily questioned computer models created by climate change proponents.  Nevertheless, the carbon tax policy is the signature climate change policy of the Trudeau Government. This tax has raised energy prices across the country and supercharged inflation without any impact on reducing harmless carbon dioxide emissions.

The main impact of the carbon tax is to reduce of everybody’s living standards just a bit more each year. Finally, it seems to have succeeded in doing something else: undermining Liberal support. The awkward attempt to solve this political and policy problem sent federal arguments for the carbon tax into complete contradiction last week.

On October 26 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a three-year moratorium on carbon taxes for home heating oil, a move that was good politics but curious policy.

“We’ve heard clearly from Atlantic Canadians through our amazing Atlantic MPs that since the federal pollution price came into force … certain features of that pollution price needed adjusting to work for everyone,” said Trudeau.

You see, last July Atlantic provinces had to give Ottawa worthy proposals to keep themselves out of Ottawa’s carbon pricing scheme. They failed, so their citizens have felt the pinch. Forty percent of Atlantic Canadians, but only three percent of all Canadians use fuel oil.

This reality facilitated a political solution–a national policy with mostly regional consequences for Liberal support. The problem was how to spin it.

“We are doubling down on our fight against climate change and…supporting Canadians while we fight climate change,” the PM said.

“Economists and experts around the world have long known that putting a price on carbon emissions is the best way to drive down those emissions that cause climate change, is the cheapest, most efficient and most impactful way and it’s working,” the PM insisted.

This circle can’t be squared, except politically. The fuel oil announcement was made hours before Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre held his scheduled “Axe the Tax” rally against carbon taxes in Windsor, N.S., the riding of Liberal Atlantic Caucus chair Kody Blois.

Put together, this is a national but regional policy to adjust a carbon tax that works but does not work. It’s doubtful that taxes or grants will change the weather, of course, but fuel oil was unworthy of an exemption.

The heat output per gallon of fuel oil is 138,690 British Thermal Units and almost equal to that of natural gas (139,050 BTU). However, natural gas only produces 117 lbs of CO2 per million BTU, whereas distillate fuel oil produces more than 160 lbs. The worst “polluters” just got a break.

Meanwhile, residents west of Quebec, where natural gas use ranges from 49 to 77 per cent, will pay carbon taxes, as they always have–and more so as they increase every April. It’s moves like this that have allowed a federal government to maintain power that hasn’t won the popular vote since 2015.

Poilievre’s plan to end the carbon tax is a winner for policy sanity.

Lee Harding is a Research Fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

Economy

The White Pill: Big Government Can Be Defeated (Just Ask the Soviet Union)

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From StosselTV

People have been “black pilled” to think the world is doomed. Michael Malice says there’s hope.

In his book, “The White Pill,” he argues that tyrannical regimes, like the Soviet Union, can be toppled.

Today, media and universities distort history, and push socialism. It used to be worse. The New York Times once covered up Stalin’s famine, even as millions starved. Why? Malice says it’s because NYT star reporter Walter Duranty liked communism’s utopian promises, and status he got from his exclusive Stalin interviews.

Malice says the fall of the Soviet Union should give us hope that America can resist the universities and media’s brainwashing – or any tyranny that someone is “black pilled” about.

Our video explains Malice’s “white pill” and why you might want to take it.

After 40+ years of reporting, I now understand the importance of limited government and personal freedom.

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Libertarian journalist John Stossel created Stossel TV to explain liberty and free markets to young people.

Prior to Stossel TV he hosted a show on Fox Business and co-anchored ABC’s primetime newsmagazine show, 20/20.

Stossel’s economic programs have been adapted into teaching kits by a non-profit organization, “Stossel in the Classroom.” High school teachers in American public schools now use the videos to help educate their students on economics and economic freedom. They are seen by more than 12 million students every year.

Stossel has received 19 Emmy Awards and has been honored five times for excellence in consumer reporting by the National Press Club. Other honors include the George Polk Award for Outstanding Local Reporting and the George Foster Peabody Award.

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To get our new weekly video from Stossel TV, sign up here: https://www.johnstossel.com/#subscribe

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Alberta

Emissions cap threatens Indigenous communities with higher costs, fewer opportunities

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Dale Swampy, founder of the National Coalition of Chiefs. Photograph for Canadian Energy Centre

From the Canadian Energy Centre

By Deborah Jaremko

National Coalition of Chiefs founder Dale Swampy says Canada needs a more sustainable strategy for reducing emissions

The head of the National Coalition of Chiefs (NCC) says Ottawa’s proposed oil and gas emissions cap couldn’t come at a worse time for Indigenous communities.

Dale Swampy says the cap threatens the combined prospect of higher costs for fuel and groceries, along with fewer economic opportunities like jobs and revenues from involvement in energy projects.   

“Any small fluctuation in the economy is affected on our communities tenfold because we rely so much on basic necessities. And those are going to be the products that increase in price significantly because of this,” says Swampy, who founded the NCC in 2016 to fight poverty through partnerships with the natural resource sector.

He says that of particular concern is the price of fuel, which will skyrocket under the emissions cap because it will force reduced Canadian oil and gas production.

Analysis by S&P Global found that meeting the cap’s requirements would require a production cut of over one million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in 2030, and 2.1 million boe/d in 2035.

“Production gets reduced, and the cost of fuel goes up,” Swampy says.

“Our concern is that everything that has to do with both fuel for transportation and fuel to heat our homes is amplified on First Nation communities because we live in rural Canada. We live in isolated communities, and it costs much more for us to operate our daily lives because we have to travel much further than anybody in a metropolitan area. So, it’s going to impact us greatly.”

Indigenous communities are already stretched financially, he says.

“What you could buy in 2019 terms of meat and produce is almost double now, and even though the inflation rate is trending downwards, we still haven’t gotten over the impact of what it costs for a bag of groceries these days,” Swampy says.

“In our communities, more than half are under the age of 21, so there’s a lot of bigger families out there struggling to just get food on the table.”

The frustrating timing of the cap is that it comes amid a rising tide of Indigenous involvement in Canadian oil and gas. Since 2022, more than 75 Indigenous communities in Alberta and B.C. have agreed to become part owners of energy projects.

Three major projects – the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion, Coastal GasLink Pipeline and LNG Canada export terminal – together have spent more than $11 billion with Indigenous and local businesses.

“We’re at a turning point right now. There’s a real drive towards getting us involved in equity opportunities, employment opportunities, and contracting opportunities,” Swampy says.

“Everybody who didn’t talk to us in the past is coming to our front door and saying, ‘Do you want to work with us?’ It couldn’t come at a worse time when we have this opportunity. The emissions cap is going to reduce the amount of activity, and it’s going to reduce the amount of investment,” he says.

“We’re part of that industry now. We’re entrenched in it now, and we have to support it in order to support our people that work in this industry.”

Economic growth, and more time, is needed to fund development of low emissions energy sources without ruining the economy, he says.

“I think we need more consultation. We’d like to see them go back to the table and try to incorporate more of a sustainable strategy for emission reductions,” Swampy says.

“We’re the only country in the world that’s actually incorporating this type of legislation. Do you think the rest of the world is going to do this type of thing? No, they’re going to eat our lunch. They’re going to replace the production that we give up, they’re going to excel in the economy because of it, and they won’t talk about significant emission reduction initiatives.”

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