Carbon Tax - Alberta-style?
#cdnpoli #abpoli
Earlier this year, no one would have thought carbon-rich Alberta would ever bring in a carbon tax.
Not even the NDP thought it.
So much so, they didn't even put it in their election platform. Why? Because they knew Albertans wouldn't buy it. Well, centrist Albertans who were tired of the PCs and wanted change. But they never thought Rachel Notley would ever bring in carbon tax.
With the Keystone XL pipeline nixed by President Obama, TransCanada turned around and laid off a whole pile of people. Enbridge just did the same thing.
She knows the NDP only have one shot at this over the next four years with a majority government. Because I just don't see how they'll get elected again with the way the economy is, the job losses, the energy sector decline, the lack of investment, and mounting debt.
Yes, the price of oil is low, so wouldn't you think of trying to help businesses and consumers reinvest in the economy by not taking more money away from them?
Well, except for the government party. Few know one of the first things NDP MLAs did was give themselves a fancy 7% raise.
Premier Notley now says the average Albertan won't feel the pinch of the carbon tax. This raises pump prices, which for shipping and other logistics, the costs get passed on to the consumer. Food prices will go up--well, pretty much everything.
For the first time in my life living in this province, and I'm sure many of you do now, I feel like this is Dis-Advantage Alberta.
All the while, nothing will change with climate change, except maybe more Albertans will seek a change in scenery.
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7 comments:
This is one of the big problems with our form of government: governments can simply unilaterally help themselves to our income. Granted there needs to be some leeway for increasing taxes to account for inflation, etc., but the introduction of any new taxes, especially one as comprehensive as this life-dependent-substance tax, demands a mandate from the electorate.
It must be nice to be Notley - she is obviously the smartest woman in the room - only she can pick the winners and losers in the Alberta economy. Hubris and conceit abound in the NDP. I think I will start phoning my MLA and complaining on a daily basis.
And yet not one single Albertan will get off the couch to protest. Given that, I doubt this will ever be repealed.
old white guy says........Canadians have never been presented with a tax they would not pay or repeal. my fellow Canadians are very stupid.
BC voters pushed back on the harmonized GST.
Referenda on taxes are not different from general elections. BC's low information voters were stampeded into nixing an improvement upon our fractured and onerous (on businesses) sales taxes. The last federal election proves that voters don't care where the money comes from, as long as government keeps spending lots of it.
Sometimes we should abstract from the thing that happens in our life. I have started to write theology essays and I have found that requires enormous concentration and focus on the most important things.
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