Quote:
Originally Posted by Flash Walken
What I CAN say though is that letting the federal government impose a carbon tax on Alberta when Alberta already has one that was agreed to by the largest players in the energy sector, and then threatening to waste a bunch of money in a losing court battle with the Feds isn't an evidence based policy.
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Academically, the Carbon tax is the best most efficient means of reducing carbon emissions . . . . . if there is a closed system where the carbon price is the same and applied in the same fashion in all jurisdictions/countries where capital can be invested. This is not currently the case.
Being the 'leader' in carbon pricing means you're the 'leader' in chasing away capital investment tied in any way to carbon (Ie Alberta's primary industry) to other less punitive jurisdictions. With the current government right now that means Alberta is closer to being on even footing with Canada but not most of the world. Right now our capital investment is not just fleeing the province but the entire country.
Also we need to talk about which federal government. The one currently in power or the one that will be in power for the majority of the next provincial term? They might be two different parties with different policies. There's a realistic scenario where we have an NDP government provincially and a Conservative federal government that abolishes the national carbon tax. In that scenario we can not only be non-competitive with foreign jurisdictions, we can also be non-competitive within our own country. If one cares about employment in Alberta over the next 4 years that could be a disaster!