Eugenie3

Some seniors tell me that they cannot afford to pay more taxes, regardless of what benefit it may bring society. They perceive a carbon tax as an unfair burden on them when they have only 10-20 years left to live. What words do you have for them?

I get this cash rebate but it is not part of cap and trade in Ontario (where my senior friends and family live) nor of our federal carbon price, right? I can’t tell my Ontario seniors they’ll get money back, right?

I am a struggling voter. The problem I face is multi-facetted. One, a political party I historically have not favoured proposes a carbon pricing policy package I do like. However, the rest of their platform I cannot support. Two, I seem to be hearing from Ecofiscal this week that both cap and trade and carbon pricing works, somewhat. But I also heard earlier from the first Joint Auditors Report that none of provinces and territories, hence Canada- except for N.S. and N.B. with their weak emissions reduction goal- are in line to reach their emissions reduction goals. This leaves me thinking that either 1, nothing works, or 2, it’s just way too soon to be evaluating the efficacy of any plan. And then, I am left thinking, so why even with a Joint Auditors Report, if it is indeed too early to tell? I want to vote wisely but there just seems to be so much confusion and controversy.

It will take decades of carbon to sufficiently reduce our ghg emissions. Different governments with different views on carbon pricing will come and go over these decades. Which carbon pricing policy is most resistant to being dismantled by succeeding political parties: cap and trade or carbon tax or other?

I just read your recommended Maclean’s article regarding how blocking new pipelines is a very expensive way to lower emissions. I see now how my instinct to resist this was just that, rather than based on facts. Thank you for pointing the article out. Now, I must ask the following: there are very learned, well-informed Canadians who vehemently still oppose new pipelines. I assume they have read this logical Maclean’s article. What else can you say to them that might soften the divisive rhetoric without being divisive yourself?

And my very last question is regarding fossil fuel subsidies. I understand most of these subsidies are at the provincial level. Many groups have asked the government to end these. Do you believe it would complement carbon pricing to completely remove or at least significantly remove them, i.e., strengthen rather than weaken the impact of carbon pricing?

Thank you. This is my first time using Eddit. I have learned already and look forward to Tuesday on ZOOM.