Check It Out: Feds say Canada needs to lead by example

By Joan Janzen

The joke went like this … recipes are like a dating service. They never end up looking like the picture. Similarly, the backlash resulting from the 23% increase in the carbon tax is because the tax doesn’t look quite like the government has pictured it for Canadians.

Chris Sims, the Alberta Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) appeared on The Agenda to engage in a debate with Stewart Elgie, a University of Ottawa law professor and director of the Smart Prosperity Institute. Steve Paikin moderated the debate between these two individuals as they discussed the carbon tax.

Chris noted the carbon tax was introduced in 2008 in BC; the province served as a model. At that time the government made five promises which the carbon tax would fulfill. The promises were: to stop at $30/a tonne, be revenue neutral, reduce emissions, and provide alternative, affordable energy sources. None of the promises were kept and emissions went up by more than seven percent. She also pointed out that anyone in BC who makes over $72,000.00/yr doesn’t get a rebate, including two-income families.

Stewart claimed costs are coming down for electric vehicles, “and will keep coming down, as we drive demand and we drive innovation”. 

On the other hand, the weekly CTF update reported Honda will be receiving $5 billion to build an EV factory in Ontario, which will create 1,000 jobs. CTF’s calculations show the cost to taxpayers will be $5 million/job. This is in addition to a report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer which estimates the total cost of government support for EV battery manufacturing is $43.6 billion. All of those funds are paid for by taxpayers, so is the price going down for Canadians?

Stewart said  “All these people criticizing a carbon price don’t have another option.” Chris pointed out the premier of Nova Scotia came to the government with their own version to reduce emissions in their province, “but it wasn’t good enough for the federal government”, she said.

She also suggested Canada sell our natural gas to India, which would help reduce their emissions as part of the global emissions reduction.

This topic was also brought up when Vassy Kapelos interviewed the President of Poland, and asked if Poland would like to wean itself off of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia.

The President of  Poland replied, “If Canada is ready to supply LNG to Poland, and if this gas could be bought at attractive prices, we would be ready to negotiate and accept Canadian gas as well.” The key words were “if Canada is ready”, which it is not.

When Chris noted Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale are literally a drop in a bucket, Stewart gave this reply, “If Canada doesn’t do its share, why should other countries like India, or China?

This is what troubles me about what Chris is saying. Selling gas to India is part of the solution, but we’ve got to do our part too. Even if we’re a small part of it, we’re one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We’ve got to lead by example if we want other countries to live up to their commitment.”

“When you give them a mathematical solution like selling natural gas to India, they don’t like that answer,” Chris said when interviewed by Andrew Lawton from True North. She reasoned that selling Canada’s LNG to India would reduce global emissions far more than a carbon tax, and would also encourage and assist India in being part of the solution. Selling our energy to other countries would also help us maintain the status of “one of the wealthiest countries in the world”.

Canadians are noticing the tax increase. Toya Crandell was interviewed on Faytene TV. She had examined her energy bill and said, “The delivery charge was $66 and the carbon tax charge was $76. Then you get charged tax on the tax that you’re paying on top of that. So the tax is competing with what I’m actually paying for heating my home.”

Toya also observed the increase is difficult for Canadians on fixed income, and expenses will rise for brick and mortar businesses who will need to charge their customers more in order to compensate.

The Saskatchewan Institute reported in their news update that Premier Moe pledged to not remit federal carbon levies on natural gas, and called for an exemption on natural gas, which is used to heat homes in Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan’s own Quick Dick McDick offered his comments on social media. He said CTV News reported the feds generated $486 million on GST revenue off of the carbon tax last year. “That’s a tax on a tax,” he observed. “They employed 465 people to administer this program at a cost of $83 million. It will put Canadian farms and businesses at a market disadvantage and do nothing to reduce emissions.”

He concluded by saying, “The government has a $1.25 trillion deficit. I can’t believe there’s people who believe if we pay the government a tax for using energy they’ll give us more money back than we gave them and also fix the climate with it.”