Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Justin Trudeau Sets Out To Battle The Anti-Carbon Tax Gang


Adam Scotti

It was a showdown that has been building for some time. So I was glad to see Justin Trudeau finally take on the grubby gang of premiers who have refused to join his plan to fight climate change.

The ones who have been trying to portray a federal carbon tax as something satanic, instead of the best way to reduce emissions and green our economy.

And the way Trudeau went about doing it couldn't be more brilliant.



For his plan both forces the premiers to bite the bullet, while rewarding Canadian families.

The federal Liberal government will slap a carbon tax on fuels in provinces and territories with no adequate emissions pricing plans of their own — but will send annual rebates to Canadian families to offset most of the added costs of this climate-change fighting initiative.

"The science is unequivocal: putting a price on pollution is one of the best ways to move forward," he said to reporters and Humber College students in the Etobicoke riding of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a vocal carbon tax foe.

Appealing to the young, while delivering a stern message to the grotesque climate change deniers like the brutish Doug Ford.



"The problem exists because your political leaders have done far too little about this. Will we kick this can down the road yet again? Or will we show some courage to do what needs to be done?" Trudeau said.

And doing the right thing, while making the plan more palatable with a spoonful of sugar. 

The biggest spoonful of sugar will come in the form of a generous rebate delivered directly to individuals in provinces that have refused to implement an adequate carbon-pricing regime: namely, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

And going over the heads of the would be Con planet burners.

Above all, it’s politically smart to hand carbon revenues directly to people, rather than to intransigent provincial governments. Doing so helps counter the federal Conservative talking point that the carbon tax is a revenue grab.

Like the moronic bubba Ford.



Or the failing Andrew Scheer.



Who will be left looking like Con bozos trying to torch the planet AND keep money out of the pockets of Canadians.

And of course the timing couldn't be better, with that money starting to arrive in the Spring, just before a summer that could be hotter than ever.

Which just a few months before the election, can only reinforce the point that Justin Trudeau is doing the right thing. 

It’s possible — easy, even — to pick apart the Trudeau government’s new plan to tax carbon emissions in provinces that refuse to do the job themselves. Many environmentalists will point out that it isn’t ambitious enough to go very far toward fighting the effects of climate change, and they will be right.

For while we need to do more to fight climate change, and prepare to adapt to the changes it will bring.

To do nothing would be worse. 

Even with the federal carbon tax, starting at $20 a tonne next year and rising to $50 by 2022, Canada risks falling short of its targets on climate change, by the government’s own admission. Carbon pricing in the way the government has chosen to do it is a timid first step. 

But if the government gives up even that in the face of opposition, it has no hope at all of making progress. It has chosen to stand and fight on this issue, and it is right to do so.

And all I can say is that in a world full of scummy Con climate change deniers, and dirty old Trudeau haters.

I'm grateful that the young generation whose future is at stake, have the leader they need.

And the prime minister they deserve...



16 comments:

jrkrideau said...

The carbon tax is too low but "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".

We don't have much time left to make drastic changes but a start is better than the 4 provinces denial of climate change. It is usually a lot easier to modify something than introduce a dramatic change all at one.

Steve said...

Whats the frequency Kenneth. In the words of Dan Rather "Courage". The last great act of political courage was legalization. This is an even higher bar. Godspeed Justin.

I hate to remind people how taking on GWB ended for Dan.

Anonymous said...

These same Con clowns who criticize our government's efforts to get the ball rolling towards lowering emissions haven't a clue on how, nor the will to do the right thing. Scheer keeps stating his "plan" is coming soon for what? A year now?! He has no plan other than to reject any and all actions our government is trying to take.
History wont be kind to these right-wing climate change denying jerk-offs who would allow petty politics to get in the way of saving the planet. They're not only killing the planet, they're killing the futures of their children and that is reprehensible.
JD

Steve said...

Not that anyone cares but some asshole asked weak andy to answer a yes or no question. He could not do it. The first rule of fascism is answering questions yes or no. Weak Andy will be euthanized by his party shortly.

Jackie Blue said...

They're not only killing the planet, they're killing the futures of their children and that is reprehensible.

Oh, but they're the "pro-life" party, and it's the Liberals who are slaughtering all the babies and condemning them to certain doom! We must secure a future for "our children" says Frau Godly of the Toronto 3%! (AKA the 3% total morons who chose her on the ballot.) "Won't someone please think of the future generations?"

And then when someone does, right away "oh, no, that's not what we meant." It's a damned commie policy that doesn't involve beating on women with holy books or preserving the sacrosanct and untouchable integrity of rich right-wing sociopaths' stock portfolios. Likewise, the earth can't be an inanimate object granted the protections of living personhood under the law. That's only for corporate people! Every dollar is sacred, every dollar is great! If ever a dollar is wasted, shareholders get quite irate!

Conservatives everywhere develop insomnia and/or erectile dysfunction at the thought that somewhere, someone they deem lesser might be suffering a little bit less. Especially if it's at "their expense." It's fitting that they're the party of fossil fuel conglomerates and the party of religious fanatics who don't believe dinosaurs were real. It takes a special kind of cognitive dissonance to have an existential crisis over a coming extinction event -- whether economic (the phasing out of the industry) or ecological (the phasing out of all planetary life) -- that they refuse to admit is happening whether they want it to or not.

Jackie Blue said...

In other news, a series of explosive devices have been found at the respective homes of liberal philanthropist and frequent conspiracy-theory boogeyman George Soros, as well as the Clinton compound in New York and another addressed to former president and first lady Obama in D.C. that was also intercepted by Secret Service. Yet another and another and another reason to worry for the Trudeau family as well. The rhetoric is really amping up on social media now, with Rebel scum and Ford Nazionalist types exclaiming that the carbon tax is intended to "pay off the U.N." so as to import hundreds of millions of refugees and get them registered to vote by October 2019. The same meme about a Caravan, tweaked a bit to distract from a defective Ford.

The more I see of these frothing-mad cultists the more I become concerned for Justin Trudeau, and hope that he has as many Kevlar vests in his wardrobe as he does fashionable socks. The carbon tax benefits Canadians at the expense of Big Pollution! How much more "populist" can you get? They're so drunk on Fuck-a-Beer and Trudeau Derangement Syndrome that if he found a way to cure cancer by way of a cigarette tax, the mob would still hate him and threaten his life for putting oncologists out of a job. He practically gives them free money, and they still call for his head!

Anonymous said...

I am so happy to see Justin Trudeau taking on those climate change deniers who would put greed before the future of the planet. I saw a post by the Disaffected Liberal the other day that called Trudeau’s initiative kabuki theatre. But like Scheer he had no alternative and didn’t seem to know what he was talking about. If Trudeau wasn’t taking on those Cons who the hell would?

Marmalade said...

The everyday Canadians are Not the biggest polluters! Time to acknowledge the biggest culprits, but Man's Greed will prevail.

Simon said...

Hi jrkrideau...I was going to use that quote, because it does sums up the situation we are in. We have got to start somewhere, and once we do I believe that momentum will carry us forward, so that we can do the right thing, and hopefully along with other countries serve as an example to others. If the world keeps heating up it will also be a lot easier to sell a carbon tax, and it’s the only way to green our economy and prepare for the future....

Simon said...

Hi Steve...as much as I welcome legalization, fighting climate change will be the toughest struggle of our lives. It shouldn’t be that hard considering that human survival is at stake, but greed is a formidable opponent and it will take all we have to defeat it...

Simon said...

Hi JD...it has been I believe 175 days since Scheer announced that he would soon have a plan to fight climate change without a price on carbon, and we’re still waiting. And will no doubt wait forever for in the capitalist system we live in there is no other way. The Cons have done a lot of bad things, but obstructing the fight against climate change is the most criminal thing they have ever done...

Simon said...

Hi Steve...I didn’t see that interview, but I heard about it and I’m not surprised. Scheer is incredibly awkward in one on one interviews, and can never give a straight answer to anything. The media needs to press him a lot harder than they have done so far, for if he ever becomes prime minister he has the potential to become the worst leader this country has ever known...

Simon said...

Hi Jackie...yes, it is truly disturbing how the situation is deteriorating, and imagine how bad and violent it could get if or when the orange fuhrer is deposed. His violent rhetoric has poisoned America and his acolytes in this country are trying to take us to the same dark place. We are more and better than them, and we need to stop being so nice and teach them a lesson they will never forget...

Simon said...

Hi anon...I too am glad to see that the federal government is finally cracking down on those criminal premiers who would put greed before the survival of humanity. We still have a long way to go, but as I said in my post anything is better than nothing. And hopefully it will get easier from now on. Unless of course the Cons win the next election and greed rules supreme. All the more reason to work even harder to make sure that never happens...

Simon said...

Hi Jackie...you’re right, it does take a special kind of cognitive dissonance to have an existential crisis over a coming extinction event. One thing the government needs to do is educate people about how exactly a carbon tax works. For though it seems simple to me, I find that a lot of people still don’t have a clue. And the Cons will take advantage of that ignorance for their evil purposes. The good news is that while Scheer and his filthy gang may be counting on human greed to carry them to victory, we are on the right side of history, and they are the ones heading to extinction...

e..a.f. said...

Sending Canadians a cheque is a brilliant move. We need to do something about the increase in carbon, so this is a start and its better than nothing and there is one thing Canadians like, its a cheque in the mail from the government. You do have to wonder how much corporations are paying these premiers campaign funds to not go with the carbon tax/// hey those politicians aren't doing this for free or because they're so committed to an ideal. they do always have reasons.