Globe and Mail - July 11, 2019   
      
      
   Andrew Scheer just gutted his own climate-change plan   
      
      
   When Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer released his greenhouse gas   
   reduction plan last month, it was rightly criticized as thin and vague.  As of   
   this week, it’s a whole lot thinner.   
      
   On July 8, Mr. Scheer sent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a letter accusing the   
   Liberal Leader of imposing a “secret fuel tax.â€�  As every Canadian by now   
   knows, the centerpiece of the Conservative election platform is opposition to   
   the federal carbon    
   tax, or any carbon tax, anywhere, ever, in this galaxy or any other.  But Mr.   
   Scheer’s letter wasn’t about that.   
      
   Instead, he attacked future plans for fuel standards, of a type Canada has   
   long had.  Beginning in 2022, Canadian refiners will have to create gasoline   
   that is 10 to 12 per cent less carbon intensive, which in plain English means   
   10 to 12 per cent less    
   polluting for each kilometre driven.  Mr. Scheer claimed these regulations   
   will eventually cost Canadian drivers 4 cents a litre.  If elected, he pledged   
   to scrap them.   
      
   All of which clarifies the Conservative environmental platform, and reveals it   
   to be a seriously unserious plan.   
      
   The party’s opposition to carbon taxes is economically questionable, but one   
   can at least grasp the political logic.  Many voters, especially core   
   Conservative ones, are unhappy about anything that pushes up the price of   
   gasoline.   
      
   They’re unhappy even though the tax this year is just 4.4 cents a litre in   
   the four provinces (soon to be five; hello Alberta) that have rejected the   
   federal plan, and even though Ottawa is rebating nearly all the money back to   
   taxpayers, such that    
   most people will end up with more cash in their pockets, not less.     
   Nevertheless, many voters, especially Conservatives, don’t like the carbon   
   tax, and opposition to it has is now a sacrament of the Conservative faith.   
      
   But when Mr. Scheer unveiled his greenhouse gas plan last month, his pitch was   
   not that he would do nothing about carbon emissions.   On the contrary, he   
   claimed that he would actually do more than the Liberals.   
      
   Yes, an analysis of the Conservative plan by EnviroEconomics says the   
   Conservative blueprint will actually do less to reduce greenhouse gas   
   emissions than the Liberal plan, will leave Canada further away from meeting   
   its Paris Agreement targets and will    
   cost more – but leave that aside for the moment.     
      
   Mr. Scheer’s pitch was not that he would ignore climate change.  It was   
   that, if elected, he would actually go all in on fighting it, but with weapons   
   other than carbon taxes.   
      
   Is it possible to lower carbon emissions without carbon taxes?  Yes.  It means   
   more regulations or subsidies – which is what the Conservative platform   
   relies on.   
      
   Canada’s progress on reducing pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions in   
   particular, has been achieved through a mix of both approaches.  In the front   
   of the shop window are carbon taxes.  They’re prominent and visible, and to   
   work they must be.     
   They’re about harnessing the power of the market, and millions of consumers,   
   to lower emissions by showing people exactly how much pollution costs so that   
   they will do their own cost-benefit analysis of how they can both save money   
   and pollute less.     
   In many cases, carbon taxes give the most bang for the buck.   
      
   But regulations can also have a big environmental impact.  For example, car   
   tailpipes today release only a fraction of the harmful chemicals they did in   
   the 1960s.  Progress came through regulations, not a tax on emissions of lead   
   or sulfur dioxide.   
      
   But regulations are not free.  Leaded gasoline was cheaper, and so were cars   
   without catalytic converters.  Somebody has to pay the cost of a regulation,   
   just like they have to pay a tax.  It’s just that the cost is hidden – or,   
   you know, “secret.†  
   �   
      
   Mr. Scheer is now saying that regulations lowering greenhouse gas emissions   
   from your car’s tailpipe are a “secret taxâ€�, and hence unacceptable.   
      
   Let’s summarize: Conservatives don’t want to lower vehicle emissions by   
   taxing consumers, nor do they want to impose unseen costs on consumers through   
   regulations.   
      
   So what’s left?  Prayer?       ✿◠‿◠       
      
   The party remains in favour of green consumer subsidies, such as its promise   
   to spend $1.8-billion subsidizing homeowners who want to retrofit their houses   
   to make them more energy efficient.   
      
   Say, friend, how would that $1.8-billion be paid for?  Through taxes on   
   Canadians, obviously.   And that’s a secret Mr. Scheer would like you to   
   keep to yourself.   
      
    (=_=)       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)