Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

FELDSTED -- Governments must never be allowed to tax us for more than an adequate amount to provide us with the services they are responsible for; we have lost sight of that axiom


Here's what everyone seems to be missing in the PBO's climate policy math. Arguments over the carbon tax overlook the fact that every alternative comes with its own costs
Aaron Wherry ~~ CBC News ~~ Jun 15, 2019

The simple math of climate policy rarely makes for straightforward politics.

Consider this week's analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), and the respective responses of the Liberals and Conservatives.

Canada's greenhouse gas emissions are projected to decline to 592 megatonnes by 2030 — a significant reduction, but still 79 megatonnes above the target to which this country has committed. In the interests of framing future policy actions, the PBO estimated the sort of additional carbon levy that might be needed to eliminate those remaining megatonnes.

According to the PBO, that new carbon tax, applied broadly, could start at $6 per tonne in 2023 and rise to $52 per tonne by 2030.

The Conservatives were, perhaps predictably, aghast at the suggestion. But that puts Andrew Scheer's Conservative opposition in the odd position of complaining about the cost of meeting an international target that was first established by Stephen Harper's Conservative government — a government in which several of Scheer's frontbenchers were cabinet ministers.



Carbon taxes are an experiment in socialist social engineering. Calculating carbon tax amounts hides something far more sinister. The federal government has no power to impose a carbon tax. 

If this government can force us into accepting carbon taxes as a valid means of reducing oil and gas consumption, it has won an important psychological war.

The next step could be to tax electrical power bills to reduce consumption. That avoids the costs of building new generating facilities to meet increasing demands. A few people will expire from cold in the winter and heat in the summer, but it worked with petroleum; it can work with electricity.

Once the precedent is set, the government has unlimited powers to tax us into submission to its will. If you find that consistent with participatory democracy and governments elected to serve our collective needs, you are more broad-
minded than I.

Governments must never be allowed to tax us for more than an adequate amount to provide us with the services they are responsible for. We have lost sight of that axiom.

We have allowed governments to tax far in excess of what is needed to provide services.

That is the equivalent of handing a minor $1,000 in cash, a bottle of whiskey, keys to a car and wishing him or her a happy evening on the town.

Our electoral system should produce a parliament of sober, responsible people to govern on our behalf. I will repeat; to govern on our behalf, not to govern us. That does not seem to happen. There is too much money sloshing around Ottawa not to tempt governments into spending extravagantly, foolishly and irresponsibly.

The thought of our government taxing us to infringe on our freedom of choice should have us rioting in the streets. Global warming is a trojan horse that make subjecting us to government decree and encroachment on our rights and freedoms look palatable.

It is not ... it is the root of totalitarianism that will replace our democracy if we are not careful.  


John Feldsted
Political Consultant & Strategist
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

GORDON F. D. WILSON: When The Trick Masquerades as The Treat

Thirty-seven years ago, Halloween 1987, I became the leader of the BC Liberal Party.   British Columbia was badly polarized. Social Credit held one side and the NDP the other. It had been twelve years, 1975, since Liberal MLAs Garde Gardom, Pat McGeer, and Alan Williams had walked away from their party to join Social Credit, one year after the lone Progressive Conservative MLA Hugh Curtis had abandoned his party to sit with Bill Bennett, the son and heir apparent to long-serving BC Premier, WAC Bennett.   An unwritten agreement by the biggest Canadian political shareholders, the federal Liberals and Conservatives, decided that if British Columbia was to remain a lucrative franchise from a revenue perspective, they couldn’t risk splitting the electoral vote and electing the real enemy, the NDP, so no resources would be used to finance either a Liberal or Conservative party provincially.   “There are two sides to every street,” I was told by a very prominent Canadian businessman who cont

FORSETH: You Have To Be A Bit Crazy

  Ward and his wife Carleen celebrating his win on election night.   In March of this year, I took on the role of Campaign Manager for BC Conservative candidate Ward Stamer.  It’s the third time I’ve had the opportunity as I took on the role for Peter Sharp in 2013, and for Dennis Giesbrecht in 2020. Now let me tell you, in the past, a BC Conservative campaign team generally consisted of myself, the candidate and one or two helpers – and very little in the way of a campaign budget. Thankfully, a benefit of having spent 30+ years in the broadcast media afforded me the ability to do ad copy and write candidate speeches, and prep both Dennis and Peter to deal with the media – it’s also something I have always enjoyed. That was part of my duties this time around as well, however having a team of a dozen and a half volunteers meant that for the first time we had people available to ID our supporters, put together and install campaign signs, distribute campaign literature, and help out at ou

Rustad will support policy for 'everyday' people, otherwise work to bring down NDP

  Conservative Party of B.C. John Rustad Tuesday (Oct. 29) said his party would support government policies that support "average, everyday working" persons in B.C., but also repeated earlier promises to bring down the B.C. NDP government under Premier David Eby. "If there are things that are moved forward that will improve lives for those people, we would be looking at support it," Rustad said. "But if he's going to carry forward with the destructive policies that he has, then yes, we are going to look at every opportunity possible to bring him down as soon as possible."  CLICK HERE for the full story

Labels

Show more