/Carbon tax and tribalism

Carbon tax and tribalism

From Shaman’s Rock

by Jim Poling Sr.

Our federal government is running out of lipstick to put on the pig it calls its carbon pricing policy. But as the famous proverb notes – when you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.

The carbon policy itself probably is not a bad thing. Serious policies are needed to reduce pollution and global warming if we are to stop the world from burning up.

The real problem with the carbon tax is the federal government’s failed attempts to communicate accurately what it’s all about. While most Canadians believe global warming from pollution is serious, a majority do not believe the carbon tax is effective.

Last week’s increase in the carbon tax, plus some other taxes, have increased opposition to the carbon pricing policy. Many critics see it as just another tax grab to help pay for government spending gone crazy.

Now Ottawa has mounted a disastrous communications campaign telling Canadians they receive more money from its Canada Carbon Rebate (CCR) than they pay in carbon tax. Prime Minister Trudeau says that the difference between the tax and the rebate gives eight of 10 Canadians a net gain.

In other words, the carbon tax policy is making a majority of us richer.

This is absolute nonsense and another shocking example of government twisting facts to recover lost popularity and votes. Polls indicate most citizens believe it is nonsense. One poll shows that only 14 of 100 citizens believe they get more money back in rebates than the carbon tax costs them.

A personal example: On April 1 the carbon tax increased the price of gasoline by 3.3 cents a liter. I drive a lot and calculate that increase will cost me an additional $1,000 to $1,500 this year. My wife and I will receive total carbon tax rebates of $840 this year.

So, the carbon tax increase will cost me hundreds of additional dollars just for gasoline. Then there’s the increased cost of groceries, clothing and other goods transported by diesel truck. The carbon tax on diesel fuel increased by four cents a liter on April 1.

Yes, carbon emissions must be reduced. And, it takes money to do that. But there are other ways of paying for it.

The current federal government is one of the most spendthrift administrations in the country’s history. Our federal debt is soaring. It has doubled from $619.3 billion in 2015-1, to $1.2 trillion in 2022-23. It’s expected to climb to $1.4 trillion by 2028-29.

The Public Service Commission has reported that last year we were paying 274,219 federal employees – a 40.4-per-cent increase in employees since 2014. The parliamentary budget office reports that total compensation for these bureaucrats increased almost 37 per cent between 2015 and 2022.

Government workers in general already are compensated better than those in the private sector.

If Ottawa cut back some of this wild spending, the savings could easily pay for carbon tax policies without laying the cost directly on the backs of citizens already carrying an average debt load of $21,131, not including mortgages.

The Progressive Conservative opposition to the latest carbon tax increase is as ineffective as the government’s poor communication to promote it.

The “axe the tax” and “spike the hike” campaigns are juvenile and totally unhelpful. This is silly sloganeering aimed at turning voters against the government and gaining votes in the next election. It does nothing to address our serious carbon issues.

What we need is a more respectful political culture in which opposing parties get together, accept the facts of greenhouse gas emissions and together find ways of reducing the problem and how to pay for it.

Political tribalism will not solve the problems of an increasingly carbonized world. We need people of all political stripes working together to find solutions and how best to pay for them.

Democracy in the United States has been destabilized by political tribalism. It is dividing American society and ruining the country.

Canada is following the same path. We can get off that path by working together as individuals dedicated to improving Canadian life, not just the health of a political party.