Scheer climate plan gives voters what they want — expressions of concern with no actual cost

John Ivison

But this is a missed opportunity. Scheer could have offered a bold vision of a new conservatism, rooted in the desire to preserve and protect the environment

It should come as no surprise that the new Conservative climate plan is a Potemkin village of a policy, designed to give the impression of solidity to a fake, precarious construction.

That’s because Andrew Scheer is giving voters what they want: expressions of concern about climate change, without the imposition of any financial pain.

The Conservatives’ “real plan to protect the environment” fits the bill for many Canadians who say they care about climate change but are not willing to pay the equivalent of a Netflix subscription in extra taxes to fight greenhouse gas emissions (a poll for CBC this week said half of respondents would not shell out $100 a year).

Scheer’s plan starts off in encouraging fashion — readers are asked to consider the environment before printing the document. It says that climate change is real and that evidence from around the world shows there is a global warming trend.

The targets agreed to by 197 countries in Paris in 2016 are re-iterated. “The Paris targets are Conservative targets,” the document says, pointing out that the pledge to cut emissions 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 were first developed by Stephen Harper’s Conservative government.

The Conservative plan disparages the Liberal carbon tax, which, in the absence of other efforts to curb emissions, will need to rise to $102 per tonne to hit the Paris target (from $20 per tonne today), according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer. It proposes a better way to achieve those goals “without making the lives of Canadian harder or more expensive”: to invest in green technology by levying payment from large emitters who exceed a “Green Investment Standard.” That money would then be invested in research and development into emissions reducing technology.

There is very little detail on the mechanism, but a number of things can be said.

One, the provinces with the most large emitters — Ontario and Alberta — already have a carbon price over a certain cap. It’s not clear if the federal plan would displace the provincial one but given the Conservative Party’s default position on provincial rights it seems unlikely. In other words, this is a policy that might not apply in the provinces where it might actually be effective.

Two, companies that produce a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions per unit of output often compete in tight global markets. A high carbon price would add significantly to costs and allow international competitors to undercut them, leading to “leakage,” where carbon pricing causes polluting activity to emerge elsewhere.

The Liberal government introduced “output-based pricing” to help ease those pressures (firms are rewarded for reducing the intensity of their emissions). If Scheer is proposing to scrap output-based pricing, he will face competitiveness problems, jobs losses and a shrinking economy. Again, it seems unlikely he would go down that road.

full story at https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/john-ivison-conservative-climate-plan-gives-voters-what-they-say-they-want-expressions-of-concern-with-no-actual-cost