Not Crazy About NDP dissing the Carbon Tax

 

I never did have much of an idea about how it worked.  I don't know how it was collected or how rebates are determined.  I don't have the inclination to do much research these years.  But sources that I have read and respected for years have said that the Carbon Tax was a good thing and that maybe half of Canadians actually got money back from it.

But being an ignoramus, it's entirely possible that Jagmeet Singh's NDP had a good reason for deciding they don't like it.  But ... aw hell, I guess I should bestir myself to look it up;

...

Well, this guy says that the NDP (federally and in BC) are just stupidly trying to steal something out of the right-wing populist playbook used by Trump and Poilievre.  Stupid because the carbon tax works and stupid because the sort of people they're appealing to (low information, anti-tax voters) aren't going to switch from the Conservatives to the NDP as a result.  

But really, what is the strategic benefit of endorsing your political opponents’ most effective — and disingenuous — position? Do New Democrats seriously believe that ‘axe the tax’ voters are now going to rush away from the dissembling Poilievre and the outright climate-change-denying Rustad? (And, c’mon: anyone who says he believes in climate change, but doubts that it’s a problem, is absolutely in denial.) Nope. Low-information, anti-tax voters will still pick the obvious choice and, David, Jagmeet: it’s not you!

Even more ridiculously, Eby and Singh say they are going to shift to policies that make big polluters pay, taking the burden off the working class. And they’re going to do it by trashing the single tax policy that, through its enforced neutrality, has actually put more money back in the hands of low-income voters. 

The NDP itself is saying something like the carbon tax isn't as good as a massive investment in public transit, energy efficient buildings and clean energy.

Canada has missed every single climate target we have set, and the Liberals are not on track to meet our current weak targets. The Liberals have staked their entire climate plan on the carbon tax. Putting a price on pollution is important, but it's not nearly enough.

While families are being asked to pay more, the Liberals are still giving huge subsidies to big polluters. That’s not right. Canadians want to see real leadership and bold investments in clean energy and sustainable infrastructure that will help us fight the climate crisis while creating good, sustainable jobs.

Instead of the Liberals expecting the carbon tax to be a silver bullet, we need immediate investment in transit, energy-efficient homes and buildings, and clean energy. We need a real plan that supports workers and creates jobs in communities across Canada, instead of continuing to subsidize big polluters."

Yeah, but the carbon tax doesn't hurt.  And distorting it as if its a real burden on most Canadians only endorses the whole right-wing slurry of nonsense about global warming being a hoax by liberal "globalists" to control us.  I think it was a bad move.