Choice. Choices. 38 times in 36 pages.

Ecofiscal Commission’s April 2018 report entitled: “Clearing the Air: How Carbon Pricing Helps Canada Fight Climate Change” is filled with lofty claims about how Canada could take moral leadership on climate change, if only the public better understood the issues.  Ecofiscal authors claim that carbon taxes are the optimal solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) which have been thought to drive human-caused global warming.[1] They claim a ‘price on carbon’ helps Canada ‘fight climate change’ and gives people ‘choices.’

 

Ecofiscal supports their pitch with an Abacus Data survey (above, pg. 15).[1]   Interestingly, unlike the EU survey on the cover of Friends of Science Society’s rebuttal document, climate change does not even make it into the top ten of priorities for Canadians That makes us wonder – why the fuss, then? Canadians care about more important things than climate change.

If we do have a choice, we need a strong economy in the here and now to adapt and develop innovative technologies. We cannot ‘fight’ or ‘solve’ climate change; we can respond to it.

Ecofiscal authors claim that in other jurisdictions like the UK, Ontario, BC, and California, carbon pricing, climate policies and cap and trade have had beneficial or no negative impacts on society.

We dispute those claims.

We will offer evidence from international jurisdictions and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lead authors and expert reviewers, to indisputably show that carbon pricing, in all its forms damages the economy. It disadvantages the poorest, destroys competitiveness, puts a dead weight on the economy[2] and does not reduce emissions by much, if at all. As well, it creates another layer of government, and a tantalizing pot of money that rarely stays ‘revenue neutral’ for long.

Canada and especially the province of Alberta have significantly reduced noxious emissions from human industry over the past 30 years and have greatly improved the environment; all without a carbon tax on the little people.

Carbon taxes are a noble way to poverty and fewer choices. They don’t fight climate change.  So, let’s clear the air with facts and evidence.

LINK TO NEW REPORT “Let Them Eat Carbon” :  Let Them Eat Carbon FINAL R-1 April 18 2018

 

 

 [1] Also known as “Anthropogenic Global Warming” or AGW. This view has been widely promoted by Al Gore. In 2005, the GHG theory was deemed, by scientists, to have outlived its usefulness as a metric for assessing climate change, but a year later Mr. Gore released his movie, it won an Oscar in 2006 and he won a Nobel peace prize in 2007, launching his catastrophic view of climate change into the public’s mind.  Only a handful of scientists foresee any catastrophic outcome from human effects on climate, though most agree we should take care of reducing noxious emissions and better manage human activities to properly adapt as climate also changes naturally, often drastically.

[1] https://ecofiscal.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Ecosfiscal_Polling_February2018_FINAL_RELEASE.pdf

[2] “deadweight loss” to the Canadian economy, in the sense that the indirect costs to the economy as a result of reduced funds to reinvest and reduced funds to pay workers exceeds the direct costs of funds paid to governments.