Pierre Poilievre’s sloganeering is based on a false premise. But the Liberals fumbled a smart policy
The year 2023 was by far the warmest in human history. Climate extremes now routinely shock in their intensity, with a direct monetary cost that borders on the unfathomable. Over $3 trillion (US) in damages to infrastructure, property, agriculture, and human health have already slammed the world economy this century, owing to extreme weather. That number will likely pale in comparison to what is coming. The World Economic Forum, hardly a hotbed of environmental activists, now reports that global damage from climate change will probably cost some $1.7 trillion to $3.1 trillion (US) per year by 2050, with the lion’s share of the damage borne by the poorest countries in the world.
And yet we fiddle.
In today’s Canada, there is deception, national in scope, coming directly from the right‑wing opposition benches in Ottawa. In 2023, the populist Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre adopted “Axe the tax” as his new mantra and has shaped his federal election campaign around that hackneyed rhyme.
That’s hardly a reason to get rid of it or replace it. Clearly people are benefitting from it and it’s evident if you look at your tax return. If anything, the fact that people don’t know about the return is a failure in marketing. So sure, there are maybe some improvements to make.
But really, no matter what carbon scheme you put in place, the cons will find a way to complain about it. That’s not a failure of the carbon tax. That’s just how the conservatives operate.
Oh they’ll complain no doubt but I can much more easily sell to my average intelligent relatives that they’ll be able to get to work without a car or go visit the extended family in Montreal without driving or flying. The cons line will be “too much spending” which only works if there’s nothing to show for it. If most people are getting or expecting to get something (e.g. EVs for drivers, transit for the rest of us) that argument goes limp.
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That’s hardly a reason to get rid of it or replace it. Clearly people are benefitting from it and it’s evident if you look at your tax return. If anything, the fact that people don’t know about the return is a failure in marketing. So sure, there are maybe some improvements to make.
But really, no matter what carbon scheme you put in place, the cons will find a way to complain about it. That’s not a failure of the carbon tax. That’s just how the conservatives operate.
Oh they’ll complain no doubt but I can much more easily sell to my average intelligent relatives that they’ll be able to get to work without a car or go visit the extended family in Montreal without driving or flying. The cons line will be “too much spending” which only works if there’s nothing to show for it. If most people are getting or expecting to get something (e.g. EVs for drivers, transit for the rest of us) that argument goes limp.