A report released by the Canadian Climate Institute last week was useful in explaining that the Trudeau government’s carbon tax is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the true costs to Canadians of reducing industrial greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change.
It is no business of the state to steer drivers from one automotive technology to another. But if the U.S. government should decide to do this, it should do so through Congress, not a regulatory agency. Where climate policy is involved, though, individual autonomy and popular consent have a way of being overridden. In April 2023, the EPA proposed a set of rules designed to ensure that, depending on which “compliance pathway” — a phrase redolent of a bureaucracy run amok — auto manufacturers took, electric vehicles (EVs) would account for as much as 67 percent of new light vehicle sales by 2032.
Progressive climate regulations could cost Biden votes in Rust Belt states come November.
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm’s four-day publicity tour for electric vehicles was always intended to draw attention — and it did, just not the kind she’d hoped for. Granholm and her caravan acted as ambassadors for President Joe Biden’s support for green energy and clean cars. But it’s hard to spend four days on the road without showcasing the downsides of electric vehicles.
Outside of Augusta, Georgia, Granholm and her team bumped up against a common limitation: too few EV chargers. Ahead of her arrival, Granholm’s advance team realized that they would have to wait in line. One charger was broken, leaving only three that worked.
Climate the Movie: The Cold Truth
The final nail in the coffin for the "human-induced climate change" scam. An absolute MUST-WATCH!
Directed by Martin Durkin (@Martin_Durkin), director of 2007's 'The Great Global Warming Swindle'. Produced by Tom Nelson (@TomANelson).
Please… pic.twitter.com/bkCrGZhIlt
— Wide Awake Media (@wideawake_media) March 20, 2024
Since the Trudeau government insists 80% of Canadian households paying the federal carbon tax receive more in rebates than they pay in carbon taxes, here’s what independent, non-partisan Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux said when he examined the carbon tax last year.
Despite calls from seven of Canada’s premiers (including one premier from his own party) to scrap the upcoming carbon tax hike, and the threat of a non-confidence vote by the Opposition in Parliament, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has doubled down as he tries to convince Canadians this tax, which is set to rise from $65 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to $80 per tonne on April 1, will really be good for them.
In a preparatory impact report, a copy of which has been obtained by the Financial Times before official release, the European Commission estimates that to achieve the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040 then 100% in 2050 — the main objective of the “European Green Deal” — Europe will need to invest €1.5 trillion a year from 2031 to 2050.
1.5 trillion euros a year. That is equivalent to 10% of the Europe Union’s entire GDP for 2022 — every year! Apart from a war effort, there is no objective of any kind that has ever required the diversion of 10% of a continent’s GDP by political decree.
Correcting the Trudeau government’s political spin defending its carbon tax is like playing whack-a-mole.
You deal with one nonsensical claim and another pops up.
Joe Biden has announced new rules that will see as many as half of all cars sold in America run on electricity by 2030.
The US President on Wednesday moved to adopt strict European-style tailpipe emission rules. The finalised regulations will require manufacturers to drastically cut the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from cars and trucks from 2027 through to 2032.
The rules will trigger a seismic shift in the US, a country dominated by cars and one where the price of gas is used as a barometer for household finances.
When the Alberta government announced its 2024 budget at the end of February, one item in particular raised eyebrows: a new registration fee of $200 on electric vehicles, beginning in January, 2025.
The justification was simple: EVs don’t pay fuel taxes when they are charged at home, which they often are. EVs are also, on average, heavier than their combustion engine counterparts, and thus, on average, more damaging to roads. Absent a clear usage metric by which to charge EV drivers for their share of road maintenance costs, an annual flat fee would be imposed.
All but one of the 100 cities with the world’s worst air pollution last year were in Asia, according to a new report, with the climate crisis playing a pivotal role in bad air quality that is risking the health of billions of people worldwide.
The vast majority of these cities — 83 — were in India and all exceeded the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines by more than 10 times, according to the report by IQAir, which tracks air quality worldwide.
The study looked specifically at fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, which is the tiniest pollutant but also the most dangerous. Only 9% of more than 7,800 cities analyzed globally recorded air quality that met WHO’s standard, which says average annual levels of PM2.5 should not exceed 5 micrograms per cubic meter.
Justin will have no choice but to raise the Carbon tax now!
h/t DS
A Conservative motion to “spike the hike” and stop the April 1 carbon price increase will face a vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday as the environment minister says, “We can’t put climate change on pause.”
Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre introduced a motion earlier this week to stop the annual carbon price increase, which is set to rise to $80 per tonne on April 1 from the current $65 per tonne.
Performative but necessary I suppose.
A noted fiscally conservative think tank warned that a proposed federal mandate from the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to ban the sale of new gasoline/diesel-only powered cars after 2035 and allow electric-only sales is an unrealistic fantasy that would cause massive chaos by threatening to collapse the nation’s power grids.
“Requiring all new vehicle sales in Canada to be electric in just 11 years means the provinces need to substantially increase their power generation capabilities, and adding the equivalent of 10 new mega-dams or 13 new gas plants in such a short timeline isn’t realistic or feasible,” said G. Cornelis van Kooten, a Fraser Institute senior fellow and author of “Failure to Charge: A Critical Look at Canada’s EV Policy.”
The revolt isn’t popular. It’s ignored by establishment environmental groups. It’s harshly criticized by pro-renewable energy business and political leaders.
Nonetheless, the battle is on, a contest that now includes rural Albertans rising up against solar and wind developments.
“The battle in rural America and rural Canada is absolutely fierce,” American journalist and documentary filmmaker Robert Bryce told me in an interview. “These big wind and big solar companies are doing all they can to absolutely roll over small communities.”
As concerns about a scheduled increase to the federal carbon price grow, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says provinces are welcome to come up with their own policies, as long as the federal minimum pollution price is used.
His comments come as the Ontario Liberals are the latest provincial party to call for a change to the federal carbon price — with leader Bonnie Crombie saying a government she leads would not have a provincial carbon price similar to the federal model.
