O’Toole wrong on carbon taxes
Dear Editor,
I was interested to see Mr. O’Toole’s launch of a Conservative leadership bid announced with the same misrepresentation that the Harper Conservatives plagued the country with for 10 years.
Mr. O’Toole makes a poor choice in talking of budget records to indicate a return to the disastrous years of Harper. Harper inherited a substantial surplus and quickly turned that into seven consecutive years of budget deficits that were not remedied before his departure. That followed 10 years of surpluses under Chretien and Martin. Harper increased the national debt substantially during his tenure following a great reduction under the previous government. And Harper achieved that in great part with tax gifts to corporate Canada that did nothing to help the economy or taxpayers, but fattened the already bloated reserves of those corporations.
The current government is incurring a deficit for sound economic reasons: reasons that are supported and urged by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. That is, for the infrastructure investment neglected by Mr. O’Toole’s party and for the economic benefits that it will bring.
Mr. O’Toole goes on to parrot the false claims about carbon taxes that we heard throughout the Harper years. The fastest growing provincial economy in Canada (B.C.) has a carbon tax. Alberta has a carbon tax. Ontario has a carbon tax. Quebec has a carbon tax. Several American states are now in the process of working on legislation to introduce carbon taxes. The whole European Union has a carbon tax with a number of its members having taxes above that of the one implicit in membership. China’s carbon tax will take effect in the next year or so. Many other countries have carbon taxes. Most of these have higher carbon taxes than Canada’s proposal. Sweden’s is five times the amount at $150 per ton of emissions; an amount that is about the minimum that will be needed.
More, Mr. O’Toole either is ignorant of the application of such taxes and the range of possibilities or he deliberately chooses to pander to ignorance in exchange for support. Carbon taxes can be revenue neutral: they can be in the form of a “tax swap.” They need have no negative economic effect. The method is political choice not economic. They can be used to help reduce taxes and poverty.
Whatever, the economic effect with the most negative application is trivial compared to the effect of not imposing the only regime that can save the world from climate, social and economic catastrophe. The major oil companies as part of the majority of large corporations support, and want, carbon taxes.
It is already too late – we have passed the tipping point with respect to CO2 concentrations – to prevent severe climate consequences, with social and economic consequences that will bedevil the world including Canada, for centuries to come. It is not too late yet to prevent catastrophe. Carbon taxes are the only means by which that less dangerous state can be achieved.
John Peate