The recent throne speech contained government promises for more action on climate change. Currently, there is a lawsuit against the federal government regarding the carbon tax. Saskatchewan is appealing their loss in a similar suit.
The Supreme Court of Canada has granted intervener status to six B.C. municipalities in that carbon tax suit. They have committed to 100 per cent renewable plan by 2050 and feel they are being undermined by inaction from many levels of government.
Still in B.C., Clean BC is a plan that includes reducing GHG emissions; while at the same time the federal regulator has given approval to expanding LNG exports through Kitamat. The GHG emissions from that sector will exceed the entire carbon budget for B.C. as noted in a letter by Dona Grace-Campbell in the Nelson Star. Added to this, the auditor general in Ontario reported the Ford government has spent $4 million in advertising to challenge the federal carbon tax.
Meanwhile, Don Pitts, in a Dec. 6 article for CBC, debunks some of the notions of the “job killing carbon tax,” with input from Simon Fraser University’s Mark Jaccard: “Shifting away from the uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels is a net job gain because the alternatives are, on average, more labour intensive.”
This competing set of agendas does not seem very useful as a strategy for dealing with a climate crisis.
Ron Robinson
Nelson