On Sept. 29 the B.C. Environment minister was asked “Could you please explain how a revenue neutral carbon tax helps the environment?”
In the interest of fairness, the Green Party and the NDP were asked the same question.
The Green Party replied: “Hello Ian, a ‘revenue neutral’ carbon tax means that no net money comes into government. That is, while the carbon tax went up, personal income and small business taxes went down to match the increase in revenue. It’s actually a matter of law that they must match.”
They sound quite proud of that answer. The NDP and B.C Liberals have failed to reply.
B.C. has collected $7.304 billion from the carbon tax with zero, yes zero, benefit to the environment. All three parties claim that they care about the environment, it is about time they started to prove it.
The City of Surrey wishes to build 27 kilometres of ground level light rail at a cost of $660 million. For $7 billion, 10 cities could now have a rail system, taking thousands of cars off the road and lowering emissions, thus lowering demand for fossil fuels. But that would mean that our elected officials actually have to do something.
The primary cause of this problem is the globalization of the economy. Big business has been busy chasing the almighty dollar by causing industrial pollution in a succession of countries. Mexico and India are next. We have to get away from the notion of conspicuous, built-in obsolescent consumption. The more we order from China, the greater the problem. Ditch the internal combustion engine and build ground level light rail etc. Stopping consuming will save emissions from manufacturing (20 per cent of total), transportation and lead to a reduction in oil demand. Simple really.
Our oceans are turning acidic whilst our politicians play the court jester. Perhaps our next election ballot should have a box which says ‘none of the above’.
Ian Kimm
Duncan