Macfarlane: Should the Canadian government put a price on carbon?

By: /
11 October, 2012
By: Emmett Macfarlane
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo

Any attempt to price carbon will mean either a direct tax on Canadians or a system that creates cost increases that are then passed on to consumers. There is a strong consensus among climate scientists and economists that pricing carbon is the most effective way to reduce emissions. The question remains, however, whether doing so is politically palatable. Recent history suggests strong division over the issue – some provinces have successfully implemented regimes but we’ve seen strong resistance to various proposals at the federal level. There are, nonetheless, obvious things political parties can do to be more coherent on the issue of climate change – such as abandoning support for subsidizing home heating costs for everyone, no matter what their incomes.

Before you click away, we’d like to ask you for a favour … 

Journalism in Canada has suffered a devastating decline over the last two decades. Dozens of newspapers and outlets have shuttered. Remaining newsrooms are smaller. Nowhere is this erosion more acute than in the coverage of foreign policy and international news. It’s expensive, and Canadians, oceans away from most international upheavals, pay the outside world comparatively little attention.

At Open Canada, we believe this must change. If anything, the pandemic has taught us we can’t afford to ignore the changing world. What’s more, we believe, most Canadians don’t want to. Many of us, after all, come from somewhere else and have connections that reach around the world.

Our mission is to build a conversation that involves everyone — not just politicians, academics and policy makers. We need your help to do so. Your support helps us find stories and pay writers to tell them. It helps us grow that conversation. It helps us encourage more Canadians to play an active role in shaping our country’s place in the world.

Become a Supporter