Over at the web site of the Calgary Homeless Foundation, I have a blog post titled: “Ten things to know about the 2016-17 Alberta budget.”
The link to the post is here.
Tag: carbon pricing
The Progressive Economics Forum: Political Reality and Climate Policy: A Response to Mark Jaccard
Mark Jaccard’s article in Policy Options has generated a lot of interest. It is a provocative article that challenges the economic orthodoxy that prioritizes carbon pricing above all else. Jaccard calls for a host of “smart” regulations that progressively introduce zero-emission technologies within specific sectors such as vehicles, electricity, housing, and appliances. “Political reality” is […]
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: BC’s Carbon Emissions on the Rise
It was a good story while it lasted. Over the past few years, the BC government and many in the policy community have spun a tale about the remarkable success of BC’s climate action policies, with a big spotlight on the carbon tax as a driver of lower emissions while
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: What’s Stopping Them?
Compelling reasons exist for putting a price on carbon. Three Star readers offer theirs: Re: Ontario carbon price policy in the works, Feb. 13 I was struck by the total disconnect between two of your news articles on Friday. One was on the Wynne government’s decision to put a price
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Will Nova Scotia Implement a Carbon Tax?
There is some discussion in Nova Scotia about the possibility of the government introducing a carbon tax in the next budget. In this blog post I will introduce the context within which these discussions are taking place, and make reference to other blog posts in this forum that provide insights
Continue reading350 or bust: Ontario Government Launches Climate Change Discussion Paper
* Citizen-based lobby group applauds Ontario Government’s public engagement on greening the economy Hundreds of citizen climate lobbyists to participate in new discussion paper to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (Sudbury, ON) – Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) applauds the government of Ontario for initiating public discussion on plans
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Trudeau, Carbon Pricing, Regional Politics, and Technology Policy
Yesterday, Justin Trudeau appeared to be backing away from a national carbon price. He says some of the provinces have already implemented carbon pricing, so the federal government will be left to “oversee”. What Trudeau is actually saying isn’t quite clear, but it certainly seems like he is giving up
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The case against a revenue-neutral carbon tax
I’m a fan of carbon taxes, but increasingly I see the term “revenue-neutral” attached to it. Where I live, in BC, we have perhaps the most prominent example of a revenue-neutral carbon tax, and carbon tax advocates have come to promoting the BC model to other jurisdictions, such as Ontario, who are
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Low Oil Prices, Good or Bad for Canada?
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock somewhere, you’re probably well aware that the price of oil has fallen dramatically, to less than $50 / barrel. What this means for Canada’s economic output & labour markets is not yet clear. But Stephen Poloz at the Bank of Canada has said that
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Ecofiscal Commission and Polluter Pay
From iPolitics, here is my constructively critical take on the first discussion paper of the new Commission chaired by Chris Ragan. In a nutshell, polluter pay is a good idea, and it is good to see such a mainstream crowd endorse the principle, but the principle of recycling the increased
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: CGE models and carbon tax incidence
A colleague of mine pointed out a relatively new paper about the distributional impacts of BC’s carbon tax. In my work, we look at actual energy expenditures by different household groups, and because lower income groups spend a greater share of their income on (carbon-intensive) energy, any carbon tax is
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Canaries In The Coal Mine, Dinosaurs On The Hill
We are still out West, but I can’t resist putting up a few letters from The Star that raise awareness not only of environmental perils but also, concomitantly, of the dangers of saurian political representation, as epitomized by the current regime in Ottawa: U.S. coal cut tests Harper, Editorial June
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Another Informed Star Reader
Christine Penner Polle of Red Lake offers some observations that I suspect few but the most ardent ideologues would dispute: Re: Ottawa plans cuts to climate programs, March 12 Have we Canadians fallen down the rabbit hole? We are living in a Mad Hatter world where our federal government is
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Aren’t We Asking The Wrong Questions?
Newspapers currently abound with stories of the toll taken by the bitterly cold weather that has taken hold of a good part of the continent, followed closely by tales of the perennial ‘blame game.’ For example, countless numbers have railed against the decision to close Pearson Airport in Toronto for
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: OECD – We Need a "Big, Fat Price on Carbon"
The organization representing the industrialized, First World, isn’t pulling any punches on climate change. OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurria, maintains we need to decarbonize by mid-century. “We need to achieve zero emissions from fossil-fuel sources by the second half of the century,” Gurria told reporters at a briefing in London. “That
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Absolving our Carbon Sins: the Case of the Pacific Carbon Trust
Last week’s report from BC’s Auditor General dealt a huge blow to the credibility of carbon offsets and claims that BC had achieved a state of “carbon neutral government.” Coverage of the AG’s report was coloured by accusations from the Pacific Carbon Trust, the Crown corporation created to buy and sell BC offsets,
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Carbon bubbles and fossil fuel divestment
Divestment from fossil fuels is an idea whose time has come. Sparked by Bill McKibben’s Rolling Stone article last summer, “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math”, divestment campaigns are now up and running on over 300 university campuses in the US, with 4 early victories already notched. Students in Canada have declared tomorrow (March 27) Fossil
Continue readingImpolitical: Obama on climate change
President Obama’s State of the Union remarks on climate change last night: But for the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change. Yes, it’s true that no single event makes a trend. But the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: GHG Cap & Trade
This is a guest blog post written by Whitehorse-based economist, Luigi Zanasi. Please feel free to comment. Also, please note that this was written before Marc’s blog post of Jan. 14 re: BC’s carbon tax. – Towards a fair cap & trade system for GHG emissions In the last two
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