Liberals accidentally reveal carbon tax hike plans
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
188.86076
Summary
The Liberals can t seem to figure out whether to raise the carbon tax, or not, and either that or they can t figure out how much they want to tell Canadians about their plans. In a rare moment of candor, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said that after 2022, the government would be raising the tax to $50 per ton.
Transcript
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The Liberals can't seem to figure out whether they're going to raise the carbon tax or not.
00:00:08.000
Either that, or they can't seem to figure out how much they want to tell Canadians about their plans.
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In the last couple of months, Catherine McKenna has flip-flopped a couple of times,
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from at first the Liberals reviewing whether they'd need to raise the carbon tax to more than $50 a ton of emissions,
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and then Catherine McKenna saying there'd be a cap on it and after 2022 there would never be an increase above $50 per ton.
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And then a couple of days ago she decided to have a rare moment of candor with the Globe and Mail
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and said that there would be an increase after Justin Trudeau was re-elected.
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That after 2022 the government would be raising the carbon tax above that $50 threshold.
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There's this back and forth and it seems like the Liberals aren't quite sure what it is they want to do.
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Now I'm convinced that they're going to increase and I'm convinced that's always going to be the plan.
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But I am also convinced that the Liberals know that it is not politically advantageous for them to tell Canadians
00:01:09.000
that if a Trudeau government is re-elected that there will be yet another increase to the cost of living.
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So I think the issue is a lot more about how much they want to disclose rather than what they want to do.
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It's not a tax on paper because then the government would need to go through another mechanism to levy it.
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The government is trying to incentivize you to make better decisions it says
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and going to charge you by doing things that result in carbon emissions.
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Unfortunately in Canada emitting carbon is not exactly a luxury.
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If you live in rural communities, remote communities things need to be shipped to you.
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If you live in a cold part of the country you've got to heat your home.
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These are not choices that someone can live without.
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So Canadians have to just pay the price whatever it is.
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The government's got your back by giving you a couple hundred dollars of your own money back
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Numerous studies have shown that a $50 a ton tax is not going to be strong enough
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to have any of the behavior modification effects that the Liberals say will happen.
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Some reports have said you need to go up to $300 a ton to have that
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which means in order for the carbon tax to have any effect on behavior
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Now whether the Liberals would pursue something that aggressive we don't know.
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But if they are genuinely serious about behavior modification,
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their own mentality, their own ideology says they have to increase the tax.
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And this is why Conservatives or anyone opposing the Liberals right now
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needs to be saying this needs to be walked back.
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We cannot accept the premise that taxing carbon emitting things,
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It's also bad politics which is why Catherine McKenna had to walk back her comment
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that ended up making so many people scratch their head and say,
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but wait I thought you weren't going to raise it.
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So right now we've got an environment minister whose moment of honesty
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That even the carbon tax we have is not enough,
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These stories are why it's so important to fairly and honestly and transparently cover the government
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but True North doesn't have the billion dollars the CBC does
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or the hundreds of millions the mainstream media is getting.
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We have an election coverage crowdfunding campaign going.
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There's a link in the description box if you can ship in a few dollars.
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It will go a long way to ensuring the real stories get told this election season.