Toronto Star

Is carbon tax best answer?

Re Trudeau is right to stand and fight, Editorial, Oct 24

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Finally I can look my kids in the eye and say we are doing something. We didn’t know that burning fossil fuels would disrupt the climate. But now we know. And now we are going to do something about it in a broad, marketdriv­en way with a rising price on carbon.

And we will use the dividends to help with the transition to the low-carbon economy that is already available and waiting for us. It won’t be quick or easy but we’re doing it. I promise you, kids, we’re doing it. Doug Pritchard, Toronto Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new carbon tax is punishing consumers rather than companies. Corporatio­ns are the biggest creators of greenhouse gas emissions, yet the Trudeau government is placing the burden of reducing greenhouse gas emissions on citizens. By increasing the price on gas and home heating oil, people will be paying a higher price for those.

The new legislatio­n gives companies a break in order to help them remain competitiv­e in the market. While it is important to support Canadian-produced goods, it will be impossible to reduce carbon emission to the target the Liberal government set for themselves if they continue to give these companies breaks.

The government needs to focus on the biggest pollution culprits, rather than blaming the carbon outputs of everyday Canadians. Tanisha Merkley, Guelph Instead of a carbon tax, why don’t politician­s try reducing CO2 emissions by breathing less? Both have marginal environmen­tal benefits, but the latter is arguably more beneficial towards the sanity of society. Kalvin Yu, Brampton Hats off to Justin Trudeau and the federal Liberal party. This is exactly what the world needs to see. Once again, Canada takes the initiative and will lead the rest of the world to a low carbon future.

When scientific evidence proves that we need to divest of our dependence on fossil fuels, we step up to the plate and show them how it’s done. A fair, revenue-neutral carbon fee is the simplest and most effective means to get us there. Sonia Kurmey, Etobicoke Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax is a positive and timely step, but surely we should also look at the other end of the problem. The world supply of petroleum and other fossil fuels must have a finite limit, and what will humankind do when those supplies become scarce?

The world is seriously overpopula­ted. If we do not lose three billion or more people in the next century or two, we risk not only the extinction of the human species, but perhaps even most of Earth’s multicellu­lar life as well.

Modern medicine and other knowledges may enable higher numbers of humans to survive, and modern engineerin­g makes their life better, using petroleum products as a base for much of today’s success.

When future generation­s look back at the 21st century, surely they will wish that their ancestors had used undergroun­d energy much more carefully, so that their prosperity was not so severely compromise­d.

So, should the prime minister also impose a substantia­l tax on fuel as it is extracted, so that we leave more for future generation­s? Charles MacInnes, Uxbridge The proposed carbon tax is a modest first step toward the wholesale retooling of our society required to avoid climate Armageddon in the coming decades.

Any older person opposed to this modest first step is telling his children and grandchild­ren that he doesn’t care about their future well-being. Any younger person is saying that he doesn’t care about his own future wellbeing. Scott Heaslip, Stouffvill­e What Canadians need are facts — all the facts.

The Intergover­nmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted a climate Armageddon if we don’t cut global emissions in half by 2030.

But according to EDGAR (the European Commission’s emission database), as of 2016, global emissions have grown by 40 per cent since 2000.

China is responsibl­e for 67 per cent of this growth and now produces almost 30 per cent of overall global emissions. China’s climate plan allows growth in its emissions until at least 2030 — and that’s what it has committed to do.

India accounts for 15 per cent of the growth, increasing its emissions by almost 300 per cent since 2000.

Both countries have dozens of new coal-fired generating plants in their plans and both have economies that will continue to grow unabated.

Western nations have already picked most of the low-hanging fruit by transition­ing away from coal — so future reductions in emissions will be even more difficult.

In this context, no political plan — no matter how onerous, will make a meaningful dent in emissions by 2030 or even a decade or two beyond.

Canada has reduced its emissions by 7 per cent since 2000 and now accounts for a paltry 2 per cent of global emissions. Strangling our economy to reduce that by a few 10ths of a per cent makes no sense at all.

Given all this, cap and trade, carbon pricing, carbon fee and dividend, and other schemes — amount to nothing but disingenuo­us political talking points — electoral buzzwords that accomplish next to nothing.

Clearly, what the world needs is to develop and adopt mitigation plans — addressing the downside of climate change but also embracing the positive elements of a modestly warming world.

Let’s change the discussion; let’s stop talking about electoral advantages and confront the elephant in the room — the reality of tomorrow’s world. Don Mustill, Niagara-on-the-Lake Send email to lettertoed@thestar.ca; via Web at thestar.ca/letters. Include full name, address, phone numbers of sender; only name and city will be published. Letter writers should disclose any personal interest they have in the subject matter. We reserve the right to edit letters, which run 50-150 words.

 ?? NATHAN DENETTE THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO ?? “Corporatio­ns are the biggest creators of greenhouse gas emissions, yet the Trudeau government is placing the burden of reducing greenhouse gas emissions on citizens,” writes Tanisha Merkley of Guelph.
NATHAN DENETTE THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO “Corporatio­ns are the biggest creators of greenhouse gas emissions, yet the Trudeau government is placing the burden of reducing greenhouse gas emissions on citizens,” writes Tanisha Merkley of Guelph.

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