[Calgaryborn]

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

Environmentalism = higher taxes? Maybe as an incentive to get the hell off of one standard and on to the next. Drive a big gas guzzling poluting car, and you pay big taxes. Drive a small eco-friendly bio-diesel or electric car and pay fewer taxes. It's all about choice.

O the government won't stop there. We already have a new tax on electrical and natural gas to supposedly fund research in alternate fuel sources. You see as long as they link a new tax to preventing global warming enough of you sheep will blindly embrace it as good and necessary to make it politically viable.

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

How is being environmentally conscious increasing inflation? That's scare mongering at its worst.

The cost of production in Canada will rise when companies are required to utilize more expensive alternate fuels. Any retooling to new environmental standards will also increase the cost of production. These costs will be passed onto the consumer.

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

Again, how so. If North America makes the commitment to cleaning up our act, and develop the technologies that place us at the forefront, how do we lose share in global markets? We don't. We become leaders in global markets.

Your making a lot of assumptions here. Until you find a fuel source that is cheaper than carbon based energy you've got nothing. In the mean time you lose the global markets you've established because the cost of production is higher here because of the restrictions you've put in place.

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

Again, how do we lose jobs by being environmentally aware? Oh, someone used a florescent bulb, there go 10 jobs to Asia. More scare mongering.

We lose jobs because our companies won't be able to compete with countries that reside in countries with lower environmental taxes and restrictions.

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

Again, if we prove to be world leaders in finding new and innovative ways to be energy efficient, the world will be forced to adopt the standards we set. Sadly, it is China and Japan that are pressing forward and making efforts to be leaders in this regard. If we don't act quickly, our competitive advantage will be gone before we take the opportunity to exploit it.

Talk to me about China and Japan when their environmental standards meet our current ones here in Canada. I'm sure they are more than willing to build new more environmental friendly products if there is a market for it but, what standards are they using to manufacture these products.

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

That's a fallacy. China is working very hard on finding ways to meet their energy needs. They are also working very hard to clean up their environment because they know the situation they find themselves. They have built an eco-town (pop. 500,000) that will be self-sufficient with renewable energy and feature emission free transportation (the Chinese have an excellent electric vehicle production plant). They are currently building the largest damn project in the world to suppliment their power grid. They are also looking to nuclear for a source of clean power. The Chinese recognize the impact they can have on the environment and are being proactive in doing their part.

Again tell me when they catch up. Maybe if they redirected some of the billions they are spending on their ever expanding military they might be able to do more. Also, building another nuclear power plant and flooding another valley for hydro electric power doesn't do anything for the environment. All that does is increase their ability to produce more products for export. How many of their coal powered plants are scheduled to be closed or refitted to meet north American standards.
Also, their eco-town sounds more like a propagamma attempt then a change of heart. It sounds like it worked on you.

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

Damn those tree huggers! Who wants a beautiful country side when you can let the mines come in and make it look like this:
You can thank the tree huggers, because if you did move forward with mines like this your taxes would have to go up to replace every licence plate on every car, because that certainly isn't "Beautiful British Columbia".

Ahh!!! so your commitment to the environment only goes so far. You would rather see mining done with no consideration to the environment or the lives it effects in some third world country than ruin the view in your own back yard.