EDITORIAL: Canada’s historical past of carbon tax follies

One factor the Trudeau authorities received’t be boasting about as Canada’s delegation heads to the United Nations’ annual world gabfest on local weather change in Baku, Azerbaijan, is that after 9 years in energy, Canada has the worst document of any G7 nation in decreasing greenhouse fuel emissions.

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That’s worse than the U.Okay., Germany, France, Italy, Japan and most importantly, the U.S., our largest buying and selling companion, which has by no means had a nationwide carbon tax, not like Canada, the place Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed one in 2019.

In line with a report by federal atmosphere commissioner Jerry DeMarco final week, Canada’s emissions rose 14% from 1990 to 2021 and decreased by 8% from 2005 to 2021, whereas U.S. emissions decreased by 2% from 1990 to 2021 and by 15% from 2005 to 2021,

With president-elect Donald Trump taking workplace on Jan. 20, it’s a given the U.S. received’t impose a nationwide carbon tax on American industries and should pull out of the UN’s 2015 Paris local weather settlement, as he did the primary time he was president.

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Against this, Trudeau’s carbon tax, which elevated the price of gasoline, house heating gas and 20 different types of fossil gas power, began at $20 per tonne of emissions in 2019.

Right now it’s $80 per tonne, rising to $95 per tonne on April 1, 2025 and can proceed growing yearly till 2030 when it hits $170 per tonne.

The Trudeau authorities says this may assist Canada scale back its emissions to a minimum of 40% under 2005 ranges by 2030.

However that’s unlikely on condition that, as of 2022, the final yr for which authorities information can be found, Canada’s emissions had been simply 7.1% under 2005 ranges. This implies the Trudeau authorities has achieved simply 17.8% of its minimal goal of a 40% discount in 9 years and now has simply six to attain the remaining 82.8%.

In the actual world, Canada will at all times have excessive per-capita emissions as a result of we’re the coldest and second-largest nation on earth with a small inhabitants and a resource-based economic system.

The query the Trudeau authorities ought to reply is why Canada has a nationwide carbon tax when our largest buying and selling companion doesn’t — and has a greater document of lowering emissions than us.