From the Fraser Institute

By Julio Mejía and Elmira Aliakbari

On its first day in office, the Trump administration withdrew from the Paris climate agreement and began a regulation effort aimed largely at the energy sector. Meanwhile, the Trudeau government wants to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 to satisfy its commitment to the Paris agreement that Trudeau signed back in 2016.

But far from “building a strong economy” and making Canada “more competitive,” as the government  claims, its Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will hurt Canada’s already struggling economy while failing to meet its own emission reduction targets.

In essence, the ERP has two components. The first one, and probably the most well-known to Canadians, is the carbon tax, which places a cost on fossil fuel use based on the amount of GHG emissions produced. The tax increased to $80 per tonne on April 1, 2024 and is scheduled to reach $170 per tonne by 2030.

The second—and least discussed—ERP component is the Trudeau government’s cascade of regulatory measures and mandates including requirements for fuel producers and importers to reduce the carbon content of their fuels, and electric vehicle mandates that require all new (light-duty) vehicles sold to be zero-emission by 2035 (with interim targets of 20 per cent by 2026 and 60 per cent by 2030). Additional measures include restrictions on fertilizer use in agriculture, emissions caps in the oil and gas industry, energy efficiency mandates for buildings, and more. With more regulations come increased costs to producers, and these costs are largely passed to consumers in the form of higher prices.

But aside from vague and unsupported claims that the ERP will strengthen the economy, the government hasn’t provided a detailed assessment of the plan’s costs and benefits. In other words, while the government has outlined how it plans to reduce emissions—carbon taxes, regulations, mandates—we still don’t know how much these policies will cost or how they will benefit Canadians.

But a recent study published by the Fraser Institute evaluate the economic and environmental impacts of the ERP.

According to the study’s projections, the carbon tax alone will cost $1,302 per worker annually by 2030, reduce employment by an estimated 57,000 jobs, and shrink the Canadian economy by 1.5 per cent compared to a scenario without the ERP. Considering that the economy grew just by 1.3 per cent in 2023, this cost is significant.

After you account for the ERP’s additional regulatory measures and mandates, the economic cost rises. By 2030, the full implementation of the ERP—which includes the carbon tax, regulatory measures and mandates—will shrink the economy by 6.2 per cent, cost Canadian workers $6,700 annually, and reduce employment by 164,000 jobs. Alberta, of course, will bear a large portion of these costs.

To make matters worse, the ERP will still fall short of the Trudeau government’s 2030 emission-reduction target. According to the study, the ERP will reduce Canada’s GHG emissions by about 26.5 per cent between 2019 and 2030, achieving only approximately 57 per cent of the government’s target. In short, Trudeau’s climate plan won’t deliver the economic growth or environmental impact the government anticipates.

Canadians should understand the costs of the Trudeau government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP), which won’t achieve its targets while making Canadians worse-off. Any government should reject climate targets and policies where Canadians are merely an afterthought.

From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Michael Collins, a gender-confused man going by Mika Katz, has been charged by four women for sexual assault during his time at an Edmonton women’s shelter.

U.K.-based author J.K. Rowling called out a gender-confused man charged with sexual assault for being allowed in women’s shelters.

In a January 27 post on X, Rowling condemned a recent case in which Michael Collins, a gender-confused man going by Mika Katz, was charged with sexual assaulting several women at a women’s shelter in Edmonton, Alberta.

“The thing that never happens has happened again,” Rowling wrote.

“Shame on you for noticing, would it have been so hard to simply turn a blind eye and pretend it wasn’t happening?” another user sarcastically responded.

“You’re right,” Rowling countered. “What are four vulnerable women compared to the self-righteous rush it gave those who let the sexual predator inside a supposed safe place? I will endeavour to be blinder.”

Rowling’s comments were in response to a January 24 press release by the Edmonton Police detailing the arrest of Collins for multiple sexual assault charges.

Beginning in August 2024, two women residing at an Edmonton area shelter told police that they were sexually assaulted by Collins, who was staying at the women’s shelter as well.

Collins was arrested and then released with conditions not to “contact or communicate with any of the complainants; not possess any weapons, firearms or ammunition; and not be within 50 meters of any women’s shelter in Alberta.”

In January, two more women came forward to report that he had also assaulted them during his stay at the women’s shelter. On January 23, Collins was arrested for a second time and charged with two more counts of criminal harassment and sexual assault.

According to a Facebook account under the name Mika Katz, Collins claims to be a woman and goes by the pronouns “she/her/they/them.” According to Reduxx, one social media account under his name claims that Collins started taking cross-sex hormones in January 2024.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time women have been attacked by gender-confused men in women’s shelters. While the shelters were designed to protect women from predators, Liberal policies have allowed male predators to enter the facilities if they claim they are a woman.

Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the policy is to place prisoners according to their preferred gender, not according to biology. As a result, male rapists and murderers can be sent to prisons with females.

In August, a 32-year-old man using the name Desiree Anderson but also known as Cody D’Entremont was charged with sexual assault at a women’s shelter in Windsor, Ontario.

Similarly, in 2022, a convicted sex offender pretended to be a woman to gain access to a woman’s shelter. While there, he allegedly raped a female resident.

As LifeSiteNews previously reported, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre recently condemned the policy after a “sadistic” killer claimed he is female and asked to be placed in a women’s prison.