Waiting on federal Tories’ no-carbon-tax plan

By Letter to the Editor on February 6, 2019.

Re: “Liberals’ carbon tax plan ‘will not and cannot work,'” Jan. 11

I appreciate an opportunity to respond to the letter from Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner MP Glen Motz challenging my support of carbon taxation.

It was heartening to read our MP stating that greenhouse gas emissions do indeed pose a challenge to Canada. On that score Mr. Motz and I are in total agreement.

However, I wish to point out that several statements in the letter from Mr. Motz oversimplify and present information out of context. My own position is misrepresented. This provides a certain dramatic effect, but it does not contribute to a rational discussion.

I have never suggested that a carbon tax would “magically improve our emissions challenges.”

My letter referred only to actual results from other countries. Carbon taxation is part, only part, of their comprehensive plans to control greenhouse gas emissions. Many experts interpret the results positively. In the long run they believe such plans do contribute to emission reductions without placing a crippling burden on individuals or the economy in general.

This is fact, not magic. What does require magic is predicting the effect of carbon taxation by glancing at year-to-year emission totals from different countries.

Emission totals are not the result of simple direct measurements. They are estimated from uncertain data. Many factors produce short-term increases or decreases. Finding the contribution of a carbon tax is an uncertain, involved and contentious statistical process.

My own analytic skills are not adequate to this task. Therefore, my letter cited the endorsement of carbon taxation by a number of eminent individuals. Mr. Motz has not explained why their conclusions should be disregarded.

I also referred to Nobel Prize-winning work by economist William Nordhaus. Mr. Motz interprets it to mean that carbon taxation is not justified in Canada. In fact, Nordhaus did not study or recommend the most appropriate emission reduction strategy for any particular country. He projected the effect of various taxation scenarios on global greenhouse gas levels.

Mr. Motz stresses the importance of apples-to-apples comparisons. Right now, Canadians have three plans to compare. The Liberals, the NDP and the Green Party have all proposed detailed emission reduction plans which include a carbon tax.

Where is the missing apple — a no-carbon-tax plan from the Conservatives? It has been promised for months. We need a real alternative to make a decision. It is the job of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition (Mr. Motz and colleagues) to create it.

David Gue

Medicine Hat

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