British Columbia’s provincial parliamentary elections are getting worldwide attention due to their focus on a carbon tax to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
The real twist is that B.C.’s Conservatives support this, and the New Democratic Party, Canada’s liberal party (the Liberals are actually akin to U.S. neoliberals) oppose the carbon tax, for what the NDP claims is high-minded reasons, but appears to be election pandering to the pocketbooks of BC voters.
Since, if the Conservatives stay in power, BC will definitely be ground zero on a carbon tax, it’s good to clean up some myths about such a tax, including that it’s not a gas tax and isn’t designed to be consumer-punitive.
Why not a carbon-emission cap-and-trade program, like the European Union already has in place and the U.S. is talking about? Because the EU one doesn’t work, and, so far, member states have not taken the initiative to set permit prices high enough to make it work.
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