Could you be an abortion-rights advocate provincially and an opponent of abortion federally? Never. Could you favour free trade federally and yet try to build trade barriers around your home province? It’s as inconceivable as a vegan Greenpeacer running a hunting lodge. And yet, conservatives in B.C. are being asked to do the political and moral equivalent.
Finally an issue has come to centre stage which gives Gordon Campbell’s provincial Liberal Party something fundamentally in common with Stéphane Dion’s federal Liberal Party besides just the name: it’s the carbon tax. B.C. conservatives now find themselves facing the bipolarized prospect of fighting Stéphane Dion’s carbon tax while holding their noses and voting for Campbell’s carbon tax.
A carbon tax forces you to pay in advance for a dream that might not come true. That dream is to stop global warming by getting you to quit relying on fossil fuels to heat your home, drive to work, and run the economy. Never mind there’s no proof burning fossil fuels is bad for the environment. Never mind that particulates cause pollution, not CO², and that particulates have been all but eliminated from the exhaust of fossil-fuel burning engines. Never mind trees need CO² to survive and that weather conditions in the last 20 years have been the most favourable for agriculture in 800 years.
Most importantly, never mind that whatever one’s beliefs, there’s no proof that taxing something reduces its consumption as evidenced by so many previous “sin” taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, gambling, and, lest we forget, fossil fuels. Canadians already pay hefty taxes on these “vices” and yet we use them as much or more than Americans who pay very little sin tax.
Yes, just never mind all those inconvenient facts; you’re being forced to pay a carbon tax in B.C. so you’ll be more willing to pay for an expensive and supposedly carbon-neutral alternative like an electric car, even though none is available. We’re paying for a dream. And, even if a viable electric car is developed, we’ll still rely heavily on fossil fuels to provide the majority of the electricity to charge its $10,000 batteries.
Now here’s the worst part. Campbell and Dion both say they’ll use carbon-tax revenue to subsidize the best plans to develop low or zero emission energy alternatives. Incidentally, Barack Obama says the same thing. But what makes politicians think they’re qualified to pick the “best plans”? Government subsidies lead to boondoggles like ethanol which has increased food prices and which, billions of dollars later, turns out to offer no advantage over fossil fuels. I don’t hear any politicians admitting error on that one.
The hardest part meanwhile for a conservative in B.C. is that we have for years supported this “sometimes conservative party” with a totally misleading name, the B.C. Liberals. It was referred to as a “big tent” party, providing political shelter for anyone opposed to the folly of socialism à la NDP. Conservatives and centre-right liberals coexisted for well over a decade; then along came the folly of Campbell’s carbon tax.
Suddenly years of grudging acceptance by conservatives came to a head. Suddenly the party with the Liberal name but which promised to shelter former Social Credit, Reform and Conservative supporters, no longer guaranteed a safe haven.
Sure, a few conservatives are still willing to bite their tongues and accept Campbell’s attempt to out-green the NDP by out-taxing every other province and state against which we compete. But for many Campbell’s carbon tax is the last straw.
I’ve long defended the B.C. Liberals, and in fact volunteered for them in their last campaign. When I subsequently ran for the federal Conservative Party, some party members asked me if I was a member of the B.C. Liberals. I said yes, and Conservatives accepted that at the time. But what would I say now? How could I support a federal party that’s 100% opposed to Dion’s carbon tax, and yet support a provincial party that’s 100% determined to impose one here?
Sure, conservatives in B.C. could support the revitalized B.C. Conservative Party. It promises to be the new “big tent” party for former Reformers and Social Crediters, and it’s 100% opposed to any carbon tax, even one which promises, on Campbell’s grandmother’s grave, to be “revenue neutral.” But B.C. Conservatives will be accused in some ridings of splitting the vote and letting the NDP win. Still, it’s a risk many tell me they’re willing to take.
Talk about a bitter political conundrum.
• Policy Advisor for The Heartland Institute
• Research Associate for The Frontier Centre for Public Policy
• Is It Organic?".
For public speaking engagements or consultations, please contact my agency, The National Speakers Bureau or Sawa Matsumura at [email protected]
- Arctic Apple Takes a Bite Out of Pseudo-Science - Friday March 20, 2015 at 10:16 am
- Canada’s organic free-for-all - Friday February 8, 2013 at 2:02 pm
- Some artists and organic farmers won’t wean - Friday September 19, 2008 at 9:36 am
