April 2011 Laser Talk (Canada)

CCL LASER TALK (Canada) APRIL 2011
Time to end subsidies for big oil and gas

The Canadian government provides $1.4 billion in subsidies for the oil and gas industries, including $840 million in special tax breaks.

These industries make billions of dollars in profit each year and hardly need any help to stay in business. At a time when our government is running deficits, it seems very wasteful to lavish subsidies on companies that need no assistance.

In 2009, Prime Minister Stephen Harper attended the G20 Summit and said the Canadian government would phase out fossil fuel subsidies. That promise has not been kept. Since that summit, Canadian tax breaks to oil companies have amounted to more than $2 billion.

These subsidies help to perpetuate the status quo of greenhouse gas emissions that are pushing our climate to point of instability. They impede and discourage the development of clean sources of energy that can produce new jobs and lower the risks of climate change.

The money saved by ending these subsidies could be used to provide Canada’s fair share to poorer nations’ efforts to adapt to the effects of climate change.

If elected [re-elected], will you promise to end subsidies for big oil and gas companies?