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.

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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