For nearly a decade, one organization has led the crusade against what it has deemed to be ineffective climate policy in Canada.The work done by Alberta-based Modern Miracle Network has had a tangible impact on the discourse both at a governmental and civilian level, with more and more politicians and ordinary Canadian opposing the carbon tax in favour of solutions it has promoted..Michael Binnion founded the organization in 2016, and quickly got to work sponsoring and publishing papers, attending debates, and spreading the word across Canada. In an interview with the Western Standard, Binnion explained that the organization's opposition to the carbon tax hinges on a a couple main arguments: one, it's bad for Canada's economy, and two, it doesn't actually achieve the intended goal of reducing emissions.He cited a pair of studies conducted by the Conference Board of Canada that Modern Miracle Network sponsored and reviewed, noting that the Ottawa-based research organization is one of only a few in the country that has access to a robust partial equilibrium model of the Canadian economy."What those studies showed is that a carbon tax turns out to be an extraordinarily inefficient, expensive way to reduce emissions," he said, pointing out that the social cost of carbon is around $75 a ton. "What they found was a $200 a ton carbon tax costs between $700 and $1,000 for every ton of avoided carbon."Binnion then took aim at pro-carbon tax groups such as the Ecofiscal Commission, labelling them "astroturf organizations for the Liberal Party" and claiming that their findings regarding the policy's impact on the economy were more like op-eds and shouldn't be taken seriously as they do not have a proper economic model off of which to base their research.He suggested that rather than being backed by actual data, the carbon tax had been implemented based on "intuition and gut feeling," noting that this was a generational tendency observable in other areas of society as well. Binnion added that while studies had been done to analyze a carbon tax elsewhere, such as Europe, there wasn't nearly enough research diving into its potential impact in Canada."We use 14 mega joules of energy to create one US dollar of GDP, the United States uses 9.3 and Europe uses seven," he said, citing 2009 data from the University of Ottawa. "So we're about twice as exposed on any policy that affects energy. So imagine that Europe, which is ... probably a quarter as vulnerable, they did 100 studies on what the impact of carbon leakage would be. Canada, which is four times as exposed, did zero. No wonder a carbon tax doesn't work in Canada the way it works other places."Binnion explained that Modern Miracle Network "did the work," including publishing a literature review of 100 studies, commissioning studies from economists who had the models, and showing "how an alternative policy could grow the economy while reducing global emissions.""I testified to the House of Commons on it," he added, "and I could feel in the room how the Liberal MPs were dismissive of [my ideas]. I thought 'You know what? I'm gonna go and say hey, we, we could achieve your goals. So you want to reduce emissions. We could help achieve your goals with it, with a with a policy that would be good for the Canadian economy.' I actually had this naive idea they might listen, but they're just so firmly entrenched in their beliefs.".Binnion argued that while we used to be able to get together and cooperate along the white paper to policy pipeline, polarization in Canada has resulted in the loss of the "healthy tension between progressives and conservatives." This, mixed with an increasingly common tendency to ignore facts as a psychological defence of one's deeply-held beliefs, he added, has made it nearly impossible to get through to the other side..Nationwide protests galvanize anti-carbon tax movement.He noted, however, that crisis can lead even the most fervent believer to change their view, and that the threat of losing an election was an excellent motivator. In British Columbia, for example, longtime carbon tax proponent Premier David Eby flip-flopped on the issue when it became clear residents were no longer on board..Conservatives at both the provincial and federal level have been fervent in their opposition to the carbon tax. Pierre Poilievre's party has listened to a number of Modern Miracle Network's recommendations, and have made axing the tax an integral part of not just their climate policy, but their general strategy to defeat the Liberals.Far from being climate-deniers as some have claimed, Binnion and Modern Miracle Network acknowledge that man is having an impact, and that just as forests and oceans need to be managed, so, too do emissions.Canada is responsible for 1.4% of global emissions, and that as such, reducing our own emissions by 50% would be the same as cutting global emissions by 0.7%."Here's the irony," he explained. "If we actually did reduce our own emissions by 50%, global emissions would go up because our super low emissions aluminum would be replaced by Chinese or American aluminum, our super low emissions LNG, would be replaced by Papua New Guinea or Australian LNG, our better environmental standard products, we would have less of them, and the world would produce more emissions."Binnion lamented the fact that this concept has been difficult to properly communicate to people in the era of soundbites and slogans, and did his best to sum it up."Canada is the best in the world," he declared. "Why would we tax the best? We don't want less of that. What we should be doing is giving incentives to the best so that we have more of it. We should be looking to reduce global emissions by producing more of the best."
