Carbon tax a shell game
Re: Carbon tax, Trans Mountain called inevitable (WP, Feb. 6).
If I had Andrew Coyne’s email I would remind him that in my view, and others as well, that a carbon tax is a shell game poorly thought out and based on rather suspect science, which today has shown little or no beneficial results.
It’s early times though. Like a shell game, there has been little or no accountability of where or how the money is being spent. Politicians no doubt have advisers that are looking for a simplistic quick-fix solution. They need to be seen to be doing something.
Upping the carbon tax is kicking the can down the road. It is not a pragmatic approach.
Farmers, industry and the fossil fuels industry are engaged in many result-producing initiatives that are expensive.
As an example of what industry is doing to reduce CO 2 emissions, at the coal power plant the Saskatchewan government has spent $1.2 billion to reduce CO2 emissions. A precipitator removes the coal dust, the CO2 is captured (up to 90 percent), and pumped deep underground and some of the CO2 is used to (boost production at an oilfield).
At one time, politicians kept piling on a tax on cigarettes to urge people to stop smoking. That didn’t work. It was the education, starting early in schools, that convinced the young crowd that smoking was a health hazard. I know, we had two kids that grew up in that era.
Morris Aarbo
Coquitlam, B.C.
