This is just great. While our CO2 emissions continue to rise unabated, we have a federal government unwilling to take any meaningful action and provincial premiers fighting over who must take the first and largest steps.
Alberta wants to protect Oil & Gas. Ontario wants to protect the Auto sector. BC is gleefully thinking they are ahead of the rest because of their abundant Hydro Power. And Ottawa can think of nothing but (an impossible to get) majority government. Meanwhile, we get further and further behind.
Alberta premier Ed Stelmach says, “It does me no good to send money someplace else and still pollute to the same level.” This is his argument against a cap and trade system.
You know what, Ed? You’re right. But you’ve missed the point entirely.
The cap and trade system is not meant to let polluters off the hook by paying money for emissions credits and then doing nothing about emissions. It is meant as a means to buy time for them to get their emissions to decrease, with a scheduled, predictable increase in costs if they don’t.
Known targets. Known timing. Known costs. This is something that our industries desperately need and which all of our levels of government are failing to provide.
Ian Urquhart is right. If we want our governments to take a more aggressive approach, and actually achieve something, it’s time we elect a new one.
