Ontario premier Doug Ford tends to bluster. Take the recent meeting of the premiers in Nova Scotia, where he claimed that the federal carbon levy was “the worst tax ever.” What he does not seem to know is that it is really not a tax. When people in Ford’s position do not know the difference, there must be a failure in communications.
And it is not just Mr. Ford who is causing confusion. Mr. Poilievre the conservative Leader of the Opposition in parliament keeps urging everyone to axe the tax. And he knows the difference.
Mr. Poilievre’s problem is that he thinks it is more memorable if he says “Axe the tax” instead of “curtail the carbon levy.” What he never mentions is that this levy is distributed to those who can little afford the contribution it makes to inflation. Seniors and people with lower incomes get Climate Action Incentive payments four times each year. There is also a 20 per cent addition to rural Canadians who do not have the advantage of transit systems to save them money.
What confused the issue was the government decision to remove the levy on heating oil for the next three years to give more Canadians the opportunity to convert their heating systems to lower cost heat pumps.
But the problem is that Mr. Poilievre has no other solution. He is certainly hearing of all the problems with global warming and he and other conservatives do not seem to have any answers. In fact, when you stop to think about it, Mr. Poilievre seems to have lots of things he does not like. Yet, he seems to have no solutions for any of them.
The only conclusion to come to in this is that Mr. Poilievre is a very selfish person. His only effort seems to be to please himself. He thinks the prime minister’s job should be given to him. He does not care what Canadians need or want. All he offers them is greed and selfishness. He wants a country with out rules. He wants a country without controls. He promised the ‘Freedom convoy’ of truckers that he would give them a country with the greatest freedom—where they can block city streets or border crossing as they wished. There is no carbon levy on greenhouse emissions in Mr. Poilievre’s plans.
His only problem is that global warming is real. The wildfires are destroying our forests—and their lumber. The floods are destroying our roads and highways. The weather is inconsistent and destroying our farmers crops. Hurricanes and tornadoes are reaching farther with great intensity.
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Copyright 2023 © Peter Lowry
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