Canada
Related: About this forumPierre Poilievre says one thing. 200 experts refute it. Who to believe?
Pierre Poilievre says one thing. 200 experts refute it. Who to believe?
Canadian economists signed a letter this week addressing the main arguments against carbon pricing. Here's what they said, and why it ought to matter.
By Bruce Arthur, Columnist
Thursday, March 28, 2024
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/pierre-poilievre-says-one-thing-200-experts-refute-it-who-to-believe/article_70ade912-ec54-11ee-b66a-7b1f09eee62e.html?
"SNIP.........
The top issue facing Canadians right now, if you ask Canadians, is affordability. Inflation rose, and is falling to a new, higher floor. Housing costs are the end of the fuse on a time bomb. It's tough out there for a lot of people. Look around.
So governments must find solutions, or at least be seen to try, and the number one topic has somehow become the carbon tax. Axe the tax, the opposing Conservatives say. They say "Trudeau's carbon tax has forced Canadians to choose between heating their home and putting food on the table." Which, uh, isnt true.
Nevertheless, the Conservatives have hammered this message. In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford has also linked it to affordability, and Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie has run from the idea of a carbon tax in response. Several provinces are opposing the April 1 increase, and the PM is firing back. (Rebates rise with the price, though in fairness, paying up front and having to wait for your money back in April can pinch, in harder times.)
...........
"That (idea) that the Conservatives are fighting for the working class on this: I mean, you're not, says Andrew Leach, a professor of law and economics, and the co-director of the Institute for Public Economics at the University of Alberta. "You're fighting for the people who have a material benefit from the removal of carbon pricing, which are people above that 70 per cent or 80 per cent income line. For the middle, it's a rounding error. To the bottom, (removing the carbon tax) is a big loss.
"And they're getting away with saying we're doing this for the poor. And it's insanity."
........SNIP"
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Bernardo de La Paz
(50,249 posts)Fiendish Thingy
(17,233 posts)If Trudeau runs again in the next election, PP will win in a landslide.
Liberals need to start prepping a new leader asap.
I wish the NDP could attract more voters (although I think they are currently polling in second place, still far behind the Cons)