The carbon tax debate has shifted significantly. The US — Canada’s biggest trading partner — is moving to reduce emissions steeply. Large investors are looking grimly at sustainable finance and some big Canadian companies have seemingly agreed to accept a carbon tax. .Is this the reason federal Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole is openly talking about the environment in a new way? .O’Toole won the Conservative leadership race in 2020 with a signed pledge to scrap the carbon tax, and never introduced one of his own..For more than a decade, the Conservatives have opposed it. But in the coming federal election they will be doing just that. The Conservative Party of Canada — the party of Western Canada — will be promising to implement a huge carbon tax of $50/tonne coupled with a massive new bureaucracy to administer the O’Toole Petro Points Plan. .O’Toole’s strategy is becoming increasingly clear: he made the necessary alliances in order to win the Conservative leadership, courting the party’s social conservatives and Westerners, and then understood he might not win an election unless he moved the party closer to the Central and Eastern Canada’s political centre. Conservative members may be in the West, but the needed Conservative voters are in the East..“O’Toole has gone against the will of the conservative base,” and “O’Toole has turned on his back on supporters,” and “His plan to return the money it raises to the public is more interventionist than Trudeau’s” — are some of the observances across the media. .“Cynics will call this electoral math; realists will call it forging a possible path to victory,” opined one columnist. .Erin O’Toole is trying to go where Eastern voters are, because he knows Eastern voters are not coming to him. .It is obvious now at many doors that Conservative candidates will face a huge challenge to explain how their O’Toole carbon tax will differ from the Trudeau carbon tax. In some swing-constituencies the Conservatives need, some voters will just be satisfied their party has finally put forth a serious plan to fight climate change. .O’Toole is banking on the hope that Westerners upset with this flip-flop will hold their nose and vote for him anyway, or only defect to other parties in small numbers. .Alberta Premier Jason Kenney endorsed O’Toole during his party’s federal leadership race. He is avoiding answering any questions on O’Toole’s carbon tax. .Sometimes silence is not the best answer. His Environment Minister Jason Nixon told the Western Standard, “We will need to consider what their proposed price on carbon and introducing personal low carbon savings accounts would mean for Alberta residents.” .More than a week later, neither Nixon or Kenney have elaborated on the conclusions of their study. .In an interview with me on Calgary’s Red FM, Canadian Taxpayers Federation Alberta Director Franco Terrazzano said, “It’s outrageous that O’Toole is now planning to hammer Canadians with higher fuel bills through his very own carbon tax … when he was running for leader, O’Toole pledged to taxpayers that he would fight carbon taxes. If he goes through with this scheme, he will be breaking his promise to Canadians.” .In Canada, the Green Party, NDP, and Liberal Party (at federal levels) have long been supportive of a carbon tax. Now so is the Conservative Party. .Should one see it as a qualitative change? Do Canadian want all of their parties singing from the same songbook on this, or do they want more space between the parties?.Coral Davenport of the New York Times observes:.“Economists broadly agree that taxing the carbon pollution produced by burning fossil fuels is the most efficient way to fight climate change. But politicians agree that it is also a nearly surefire way to get voted out of office. After all, a carbon tax is, by design, an energy tax. Among other things it would most likely raise the prices that voters pay for gasoline and electricity which is why the idea has long been seen as politically toxic.”.A better climate strategy than a carbon tax would be to reduce the focus on the threats posed by climate change, and highlight the benefits of clean air, less traffic congestion, and more green space in cities. There is a need to speed the transformation to rapidly move on to another policy approach. And funding renewable energy will be far easier than taxing carbon. .Erin O’Toole has decided to mimic his opponents. He should have chosen a path that provides choice to Canadians. .Rishi Nagar is a columnist for the Western Standard
The carbon tax debate has shifted significantly. The US — Canada’s biggest trading partner — is moving to reduce emissions steeply. Large investors are looking grimly at sustainable finance and some big Canadian companies have seemingly agreed to accept a carbon tax. .Is this the reason federal Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole is openly talking about the environment in a new way? .O’Toole won the Conservative leadership race in 2020 with a signed pledge to scrap the carbon tax, and never introduced one of his own..For more than a decade, the Conservatives have opposed it. But in the coming federal election they will be doing just that. The Conservative Party of Canada — the party of Western Canada — will be promising to implement a huge carbon tax of $50/tonne coupled with a massive new bureaucracy to administer the O’Toole Petro Points Plan. .O’Toole’s strategy is becoming increasingly clear: he made the necessary alliances in order to win the Conservative leadership, courting the party’s social conservatives and Westerners, and then understood he might not win an election unless he moved the party closer to the Central and Eastern Canada’s political centre. Conservative members may be in the West, but the needed Conservative voters are in the East..“O’Toole has gone against the will of the conservative base,” and “O’Toole has turned on his back on supporters,” and “His plan to return the money it raises to the public is more interventionist than Trudeau’s” — are some of the observances across the media. .“Cynics will call this electoral math; realists will call it forging a possible path to victory,” opined one columnist. .Erin O’Toole is trying to go where Eastern voters are, because he knows Eastern voters are not coming to him. .It is obvious now at many doors that Conservative candidates will face a huge challenge to explain how their O’Toole carbon tax will differ from the Trudeau carbon tax. In some swing-constituencies the Conservatives need, some voters will just be satisfied their party has finally put forth a serious plan to fight climate change. .O’Toole is banking on the hope that Westerners upset with this flip-flop will hold their nose and vote for him anyway, or only defect to other parties in small numbers. .Alberta Premier Jason Kenney endorsed O’Toole during his party’s federal leadership race. He is avoiding answering any questions on O’Toole’s carbon tax. .Sometimes silence is not the best answer. His Environment Minister Jason Nixon told the Western Standard, “We will need to consider what their proposed price on carbon and introducing personal low carbon savings accounts would mean for Alberta residents.” .More than a week later, neither Nixon or Kenney have elaborated on the conclusions of their study. .In an interview with me on Calgary’s Red FM, Canadian Taxpayers Federation Alberta Director Franco Terrazzano said, “It’s outrageous that O’Toole is now planning to hammer Canadians with higher fuel bills through his very own carbon tax … when he was running for leader, O’Toole pledged to taxpayers that he would fight carbon taxes. If he goes through with this scheme, he will be breaking his promise to Canadians.” .In Canada, the Green Party, NDP, and Liberal Party (at federal levels) have long been supportive of a carbon tax. Now so is the Conservative Party. .Should one see it as a qualitative change? Do Canadian want all of their parties singing from the same songbook on this, or do they want more space between the parties?.Coral Davenport of the New York Times observes:.“Economists broadly agree that taxing the carbon pollution produced by burning fossil fuels is the most efficient way to fight climate change. But politicians agree that it is also a nearly surefire way to get voted out of office. After all, a carbon tax is, by design, an energy tax. Among other things it would most likely raise the prices that voters pay for gasoline and electricity which is why the idea has long been seen as politically toxic.”.A better climate strategy than a carbon tax would be to reduce the focus on the threats posed by climate change, and highlight the benefits of clean air, less traffic congestion, and more green space in cities. There is a need to speed the transformation to rapidly move on to another policy approach. And funding renewable energy will be far easier than taxing carbon. .Erin O’Toole has decided to mimic his opponents. He should have chosen a path that provides choice to Canadians. .Rishi Nagar is a columnist for the Western Standard
