Ladies and gentlemen — next up for bid — no, not the 700 sq. ft. condo anywhere in the country, nope, on this Earth Day we are offering you the opportunity to enter your bids to save planet Earth!
That’s my script written for President Joe Biden’s opening remarks as the self-appointed master of ceremonies at today’s Virtual Climate Summit ZOOM-athon.
Never one to miss a glowing moment in the global political limelight, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was quick off the mark pledging, or was it vowing, that this country will cut GHG emissions by 40 to 45% in the next 10 years; oh, and don’t forget we will be at net zero by 2050.
Well, that’s just not going to cut it (pun intended) as the US of A has come in with a bid of an emission reduction of 50 to 52% in the next 10 years.
Now that’s quite a bid from the largest hydrocarbon consumer and producer in the world. How this will be accomplished will be explained after a commercial break so stay tuned.
If Canadians are to make it to this Trudeauliscious finish line, how will it happen?
Well, of course there’s the carbon levy (oh please… just call me a tax already), that will hit $170/tonne by 2030, which by that time will have increased gasoline prices by 38 cents a litre. A-ha! But not so. By some mathematical manipulation that slipped under Einstein’s radar, this carbon tax will be rebated back to that same consumer.
Wow!
Can someone please explain to me how this reduces demand for fossil fuels if you tax it one day and de-tax it the next? The net effect is that it accomplishes zero when it comes to reducing demand for refined fuels.
Then looking south, we see that the U.S. doesn’t even have a carbon tax. Another a-ha!
But many Canadians will counter this with a “Carbon Border Adjustment” because it said so in the latest version of the government’s budget, so it must be true.
If this happens, then somehow the carbon tax north of the border that doesn’t exist south of the 49th parallel will be adjusted downwards so that the Canadian manufacturing sector will be competitive with our southern neighbours.
To me, this means that the gasoline consumer can keep on consuming gasoline and heavy industry can keep on consuming diesel and industrial distillates.
The solution to this fossil fuel dilemma is of course for President Biden to follow Canada’s lead and impose his own carbon tax at the pump while at the same time warning the U.S. consumer in advance that their pump prices will increase by $1.43/gallon by 2030.
I believe that President Biden realizes that this would be like building a political sandcastle at high tide.
– Roger McKnight – B.Sc., Senior Petroleum Analyst
Add comment