What new carbon pricing data tells us about the carbon tax | Power Play with Vassy Kapelos

the Tories are calling for environment Minister Steven gibo to resign after the feds put out data today that last week the Parliamentary budget officer said he was forbidden from releasing the data is about the poent politically rather contentious price on carbon it shows without it emissions would be 11% Higher by 2030 but that the economy in the meantime will take a 1% hit to GDP what does the data do to the debate on the carbon tax let’s bring back the front bench chrisy Clark John Tory and Tom mare Christie I’ll start with you what do you think it does well I think it’s a very very bad Bly designed carbon tax you know in British Columbia we had one and every penny of it didn’t go into you know 20% of this one goes back into growing government the other 80% goes into people’s you know to increase consumer spending goes into their accounts well we did is we took all 100% of the carbon tax that was levied in British Columbia put it into tax cuts so that people had more money in their pockets and it really supercharged the economy this carbon tax is a very badly designed tax fasy but in addition to that though you also have a a federal government that is trying to get to Net Zero by actually slowing the economy part of their Whole Net Zero plan is shutting production caps on energy slow walking project approval so that things don’t get done higher taxes unpredictable process all of that has meant that we are our economy is slowing dramatically our standard of living is dropping dropping we are seeing the Americans take off while we uh while we fall back that is almost a deliberate policy of suppressing economic growth in order to get to Net Zero and that’s the exact opposite of what we should be doing to try to get to Net Zero in our country if the economy is slow it’s not just because of the carbon tax it’s because of this government’s overall economic policy and it’s not just you know a tax is one thing there’s a whole lot more that needs to be fixed than that I think Tom the Liberals would contend I mean besides sort of what they’ve said for a long time about the carbon tax itself and a price on pollution and how they view it to be integral to their their climate plan they would contend that their version of economic growth and we’ve talked about this before hinges on the Investments that they’re making and that the provincial government in Ontario for example is making in the electric vehicle supply chain they they they will see economic growth growth I think more through that lens H how do you how do you think this data informs the the conversation that we’re having it makes it more difficult it’s it’s a great conversation for experts at the University who will point out for example that last Summer’s wildfires across the country that were recorded in so many provinces devastated the economy long term because this is a resource that would will no longer be there for the economy so that has to be taken into account as well and I have to say the Parliamentary budget officer did himself no favors when he completely missed his own calculations the first time out and then had to start sending a little note much later saying oh I forgot I forgot I included industry and it wasn’t just on the consumer so it was a bit of a mess from the beginning it FAS you’ve been at this a long time the minute it’s this complicated you know the old expression when you’re explaining you’re losing it is complicated but I’ll get something simple out there tonight I’ll say this that I found it shameful that Canada was the first country in the world and there were only two others in the history of the Kyoto Accord Canada was the first country in the world under the conservatives of Step Harper to withdraw from the Kyoto Accord what Mr PV is saying is that he would of course make Canada withdraw from the Paris Accord because he has no clue whatsoever no idea of how to meet those greenhouse gas reduction obligations not just targets their obligations that we’ve signed on to Mr Trudeau a little bit late to the game took him years to get there is finally doing something an 11% decrease is Major it will help our ability to trade in the world because we’ll be seen as that sort of leader I think that there are benefits here that are not being correctly assessed Mr Mr quv as usual is doing a notes standing job in opposition but I think that at some point you have to have a prop position in in terms of the climate and reducing greenhouse gases and he clearly does not have one uh last word to you John well I agree with most of what Tom just said uh but I think that uh the Liberals for them this is a disaster because you have a report here that is incomplete by the admission of the person who wrote it uh and anytime that they talk about earlier on when Tom said when you’re explaining you’re losing when the Liberals are talking about the carbon tax they’re losing albeit that there are some emissions that have emission reductions that have happened here and they really believe in it so I don’t fault them for that but I just think that uh you know that again uh this is one of those things where they’ve Allowed by holding this report back for it to become much bigger than it should be and it is focusing the discussion on something they would rather not see discussed when there are many other things that they could be talking about so it’s uh you know good for them for having emission reductions uh the report is incomplete but bad on them for holding this back and making it seem bigger than it is okay on that note I’ll leave it there thanks everyone great to talk to you as always Christy Clark Tom Ware and John Tory our front Ben

Panellists weigh in on new data that predicts Canada could lower its emissions by 12 per cent at the cost of a $25B hit to the GDP by 2030.

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