Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said a nationwide price on carbon will soon be in place.
CCL Canada applauds McKenna’s resolve on national carbon price
By Cathy Orlando
Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) Canada applauds Environment Minister Catherine McKenna’s commitment for a national price on carbon pollution. Such a price is an important first step towards reconciling Canada’s current and woefully inadequate commitments for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
McKenna’s leadership is about to herald in a prosperous and low-carbon economy for Canada and the world. Analytical Advisors, an Ottawa-based firm that monitors Canada’s clean technology sector, reported earlier this year that Canada’s global share of international clean tech sales has been steadily declining since 2008, and our global ranking fell from 14th to 19th. Through steadily rising carbon fees and eliminating fossil fuel subsidies, we can reverse this trend. For example, Analytical Advisors reported that sales in British Columbia’s clean technology industry increased by 48 percent in two years after the introduction of the province’s revenue neutral carbon tax in 2008.
It is important to note that only a national carbon pricing policy allows for the enactment of border adjustments. This adjustment would discourage businesses from relocating to places where they can emit CO2 free of charge and encourage other nations to adopt an equivalent price on carbon.
A national price on carbon to reduce emissions cannot come soon enough. World renowned climatologist, Dr. James Hansen, in a recent peer-reviewed paper with 18 leading climate experts, warned that if we don’t rein in CO2 emissions very soon, all hell will break loose. Humans are pushing the climate towards irreversible tipping points that will cause superstorms unlike any we have seen in modern times. Sea level rise of several meters will cause catastrophic coastal flooding.
CCL has lobbyied for carbon fee and dividend – a revenue neutral carbon fee – in Canada since September 2010. In 2016, volunteers have lobbied their Members of Parliament for this policy 99 times in face-to-face meetings.
CCL Canada will convene and lobbying in Ottawa Nov. 26-29. Glen Hodgson, newly appointed Senior Fellow and former Vice President and Chief Economist at the Conference Board of Canada, will be CCL Canada’s Keynote Speaker on Economics. Earlier this year, Glen Hodgson wrote The Case for a Federal Carbon Tax.
Citizens’ Climate Lobby members have also launched a petition where citizens can ask their Premiers to support a national price on carbon.
An auspicious year awaits. Canada will celebrate its 150th birthday. There will be commemorative events of 100 years since the Battle of Vimy Ridge. And, finally, we will start shifting some of PM Borden’s regressive and temporary income tax of 1917 towards pollution taxes. After all, we should be taxing the things we don’t like and not taxing the things we like, such as income.
