Carbox Taxes

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

Conservatives' Lack Of Imagination

The ice in Antarctica is melting much more quickly than we thought it was. Yet conservative governments across the country are wailing about carbon taxes. Paul Mason writes:

Everywhere you turn, politicians of a conservative bent are denouncing the climate-change measure as a pointless, economy-wrecking raid on people’s pocket books. United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney has made attacks on Alberta’s carbon tax the centerpiece of his pre-election strategy. Doug Ford just won power in Ontario after making his promise to dismantle the province’s cap-and-trade system a major component of his platform. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, also a conservative, has vowed to fight the federal carbon tax in court.

In Ottawa, the Conservatives use political theatre to complain about carbon taxes:

They carried out a 12-hour filibuster to draw attention to the fact the federal government won’t release any analysis of how much its national carbon tax will cost Canadians. This, despite the fact there have been plenty of studies done that have provided an answer to that very question. Studies everyone has access to.

The federal Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources estimated the cost of a $50-a-tonne carbon tax based on 2013 energy consumption levels. Their findings ranged from $603 per household in B.C. to $707 in Ontario to $1,120 in Nova Scotia. But those evaluations don’t take into account measures provincial governments can introduce to mitigate the costs, such as direct rebates or the reduction of taxes in other areas. They can pay for those breaks with the revenue raised from the carbon tax.

And that's precisely the point. The provinces have the power to decide how the tax will bite -- and what can be done to offset that bite. When B.C. introduced its carbon tax, it cut income taxes.

The Liberal plan isn't perfect. But Canadian conservatives lack imagination. The fact is they've lacked  imagination for a long time.