Don’t axe the facts

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/07/2024 (463 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With all the hubbub over axing the carbon tax, I’ve been doing a bit of research, and I’m hugely puzzled by something. Why is it that 90 per cent of Canadians think climate change is real and more than 70 per cent want something done about it, but 50 per cent also believe that the carbon tax should be scrapped?

It’s a bit of a puzzle isn’t it? Although, when you consider the impact of inflation, combined with the carbon tax hysteria whipped up by conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, it’s not terribly surprising that so many Canadians — most of whom want to see decisive action on climate change — are up in arms about the tax.

Plus there are a few other factors at play here, like the fact that many Canadians don’t really understand how the tax works or why it was initiated. It’s a reality only exacerbated by a steady stream of misinformation and half-truths currently being broadcast on TV and social media by climate deniers, right wing fringe groups, oil lobbyists, and who knows who else.

So what exactly is the carbon tax and how is it supposed to work?

The short answer is it’s an incentive tax — an incentive for big industrial and corporate polluters, as well as consumers, to switch to alternative energy, rather than using the carbon-based fuels that produce the carbon dioxide emissions that drive climate change. Switch to electric, wind, solar or geothermal et voila — you pay no carbon tax.

It’s also important to note, that 90 per cent of the tax paid by Canadian consumers for gasoline or home heating is returned to them in rebate cheques sent by mail or directly deposited into their bank accounts, four times a year. Which is why I’m gobsmacked when people fiercely proclaim that they’ve never received the rebates. I always assumed that most people kept track of what’s deposited into their bank accounts. Apparently not.

“Okay,” I hear you say. “So maybe I do get the rebate, but what’s the point? Why tax consumers at all, if most of it is returned?”

Well, people being people, the theory behind the carbon tax is that by watching gas prices climb, we’ll eventually see the advantage of switching to sustainable energy — say, a hybrid car or geothermal heating — and that we’ll use our quarterly rebate cheques plus government grants to switch energy sources.

As for big industry polluters, there is no rebate. They simply continue to pay a steadily increasing carbon tax until they realize that switching to renewable energy is a whole lot cheaper.

Now, some of you will probably say it’s not as simple, that the carbon tax is one of the main factors driving inflation. Turns out the answer to that is — no, not really. In fact, according to the Bank of Canada, the carbon tax contributes less than 0.2 per cent to our current inflation rate. And if that sounds relatively small, that’s because it is.

“But wait!” the axe the tax crowd chimes in. “What about the knock-on effects of the carbon tax. It’s driving up food prices, because all those long haul truckers have to pay more for their diesel.”

Hmmm. That one sounds a bit more convincing doesn’t it? So let’s take a look at how much the big grocery chains have made over the past few years, despite the higher cost of transporting their goods.

In the first four months of 2024, Superstore, for example, reported almost $500 million in profit, about a 10 per cent increase over the first quarter in 2023. So given those record-breaking profits, why has the cost of food risen by an estimated 11 per cent over the past two years, especially given that higher gas prices account for a mere 0.3 per cent of the price hikes we’re seeing?

I leave you to answer that.

In fact, as far as I can see the only group needing carbon tax relief are family farmers and they should definitely get it, along with the incentive grants needed to switch to their barns and grain driers to sustainable energy by 2030.

You know, Mark Twain once said, “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story,” and he’s right. Because after doing a little research, I’ve discovered that the stories circulating about the carbon tax are, indeed, more fiction than fact.

So what’s moral of this story? Well, if you find yourself worried sick about climate change and its potential impacts, then stop shouting “axe the tax” and stick to the facts.

Like the fact that without the tax, our carbon emissions would have been an estimated 20 megatonnes higher in 2022.

Which, by the way, is the equivalent of all the emissions produced in Manitoba in just one year.

Erna Buffie is a writer and filmmaker. Read more @ https://www.ernabuffie.com/