It's disconcerting to see how conservatives tout ideas -- until other people implement them. Then they go on a tear and furiously reject them. Mitt Romney developed a health insurance program for Massachusetts, then conservatives branded it Obamacare and tried to get rid of it. The same is true of the carbon tax. Gillian Steward writes:
Whatever the labels — carbon taxes, carbon pricing, or putting a price on pollution — they are actually conservative ideas. Prominent Conservatives such as Preston Manning, and former Alberta Treasurer Jim Dinning started promoting the idea years ago. Mark Cameron, former policy director in the prime minister’s office under Stephen Harper recently stated that Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax plan is a “smart conservative policy.”
Andrew Leach, an energy and environmental economist at the University of Alberta and one of the architects of Alberta’s climate change strategy earlier this year told a parliamentary committee studying Trudeau’s carbon pricing legislation that carbon pricing “leverages the power of the market to enable emission reductions.” Instead of relying on government edicts and regulations, individuals will make decisions about how much fossil fuel they want to use given the price.
That kind of talk should be music to the ears of a conservative.
But that isn't the case. Jason Kenny, Doug Ford and Andrew Scheer are committed to killing a carbon tax -- because it is a tax. And Rachel Notley is, of course, a left wing apostate:
Since carbon pricing is a key part of NDP Premier Rachel Notley’s climate change policies and has been in place for over two years, it could well become the main issue in the next election. Especially since the NDP hoped carbon pricing would thwart opposition to oil pipelines in the rest of Canada: a strategy that has so far failed.
But at least Notley had a plan that attempted to recognize both the fossil fuel industry as a key economic driver and the need to reduce carbon emissions.
Neither Kenney, Ford, nor Scheer have any such plan.
Kenny, Ford and Scheer are sailing -- like the rest of us -- on the Titanic. And they'll party until it goes under.
Image: elitedaily.com
8 comments:
.. carbon taxes.. or the alternate 'carbon control' options.. are confusing (to me) Is Methane included under the heading of 'Carbon Emissions' ? Obviously Methane is a greenhouse gas.. Will it be taxed in some way ?
Regardless, I like how Andrew Leach cuts through the distortions & deflections ..
with coherently presented facts - so great to see you mention him..
Just as I always refer and defer to Andrew Derocher as a polar bear authority.. with facts
(Polar bear population is a climate change denial football)
Have you ever been to London ? Seems they mitigate vehicle traffic via $$
Yes, the buses run downtown, cabs too.. and limos & exotic private cars
but you have to pay to play (drive in the core areas)
They also use roundabouts to ensure traffic flow
and quelle surprise ! The best driving I have ever seen
is the Brits ! They always signal, drive with the flow, pass cleanly
and navigate the tight lanes of the countryside with ease
So it appears the steep $ of pay to drive downtown works..
Public transit runs on time.. and is very comprehensive
I always pay attention to 'best practices'
when they keep successfully evolving
and are employed in almost all sectors by exemplars
and if $$ are the voluntary fulcrum for the greenhouse gas lever
let's give it a reasonable shot..
I haven't been to London, sal. But I am aware that you have to pay to drive downtown. There really are a set of best practices. The problem is that the libertarians in the conservative fold believe that best practice means "what I practice."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-26/new-climate-debate-how-to-adapt-to-the-end-of-the-world
Thanks for the link, Deacon. We can't avoid the deluge. But perhaps we can survive -- perhaps.
Tax it or regulate it - those are the choices. But conservatives hate both. Inevitably, DoFo will offer a meaningless gesture.
Cap
One of the basic axioms in life is that you have to pay the piper, Cap. Conservatives simply don't like to pay their bills.
" Conservatives simply don't like to pay their bills."
Neither do thieves, no matter what inappropriate label is put on Authoritarians. Same pig, different lipstick.
This should look familiar. https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/ets_en
This follows, along with failure of the scheme. https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/carbon-credit-fraud-causes-more-5-billion-euros-damage-for-european-taxpayer
Government taxes on the use of fire ( or the air we breathe - or the CO2 we exhale, for that matter ) are a lovely confiscation of the stolen gift of Prometheus. You seem to think it is an act of virtue in a world where currencies trade at ridiculous pay-per-hour rates to workers in disadvantaged nations ripped off by modern colonialism.
I am sure there is no contradiction in the proposer of such action being both the administrator of such boundless largesse. You do realize, I trust, that Copenhagen failed from the Danes' release of information in substitution of information papers about the subject in hand, revealing it was a ripoff of poorer nations' rates of taxation.
Where do I get my silly ideas ?
Here are a couple of efforts to show not all is well on the front of ecological virtue - including calling the air we exhale a pollutant.
http://elonionbloggle.blogspot.com/
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proofs - not caterwauling about how unjust it is to be believed without a shred of solid evidence. Just tell a farmer man controls the weather. He will deem you a dangerous idiot.
Climate Change "Problem" Solved - its Natural
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-E5y9piHNU&app=desktop
Thanks for the several links, opit. Solving the problem was never going to be easy. But until the deniers -- like Kenney and Ford -- recognize the problem, we'll get nowhere.
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