Yet More Global Warming Garbage

The Toronto Sun is running an informal poll on their website today asking readers whether they think the Conservative government really cares about the environment. A better question would be should they care. Of course they should not care simply because it is not an issue. Still it dominates discussion and is the big thing at the G8 meeting, detracting from more important issues on the table. In fact, it's an issue that is stalling the entire political process here in Canada as it dominates House of Commons sessions as the opposition repeatedly attacks the Conservatives for not supporting the deeply flawed Kyoto Protocol. Kyoto would cut emissions dramatically at the expense of an economic recession. Is this really worth putting people out in the cold? These sorts of things usually equal job losses. CAW union president Buzz Hargrove has already mentioned that his union is not in support of Kyoto and that they support the Conservatives on this issue. For everyone else, the science is out and the debate is long over, which it isn't. Many of the world's top scientists do not support the idea of man-made global warming. Even those who do support it feel that the information being put forth by people like Al Gore is padded to fit with their agendas. I can say the majority of scientists do "support" it simply because it gains them research grants, as was mentioned in the Great Global Warming Swindle. (That movie by the way is available on Youtube for those who want to see it. I'm not sure if it's on DVD or if/when it will be shown on Canadian TV.)
Much of that stuff above is stuff I've already said before but it's important to keep mentioning it simply because so many blindly follow it without questioning where the research came from. Science, after all, is about questioning things. You'll find the debate is rarely out on any topic like this, which is what makes man-made global warming an unusual case.

Fortunately, Canadian apathy is working in our favour for once. Though Canadians do believe it, they don't really want to do anything about it. That means we aren't at risk of going into the crap hole... for now. Some disturbing news has cropped up this week that does worry me. I'll start with the least disturbing article of the pair first.

Green Party leader Elizabeth May has suggested we institute a nation wide carbon tax. This tax would roughly amount to an extra 12 cents per liter of gasoline. That would raise the national average price for gas to $1.24 per liter if it were instituted today. That would be an 11% increase in the price of fuel. As it stands, 35% of the price of gasoline in Canada is tax. That's according to GasBuddy Inc, a consumer organization that tracks gas prices across North America. There is a 10cent per liter national excise tax on gas right now. In Ontario, the provincial gas tax is is 24.7 cents per liter. Additionally, a 6% GST is charged on top of those, essentially taxing a tax. The original idea behind gasoline taxes was to repair roads and subsidize public transit. However, most of this money collected goes into general revenue. This is essentially one big pot that is divided up at budget time so the actual amounts of the gas tax that actually go to it's intended places is random. The United States, by contrast, has taxes that only amount to 20% of the price of gas. That money collected usually does go into roads and transit. The highest gas taxes are in Quebec, Newfoundland, and the Maritimes. Many Maritime provinces charge full HST 14% on top of the additional federal and provincial taxes. Nunavut has the lowest gas tax at only 16 cents per liter, three cents cheaper than the next lowest in Alberta. It's important to note though that the people of Nunavut require fuel for survival which could account for their lower taxes in order to ease economic burdens. There was no data on what gas actually costs per liter in the territories. We can expect it to be quite high simply due to logistical reasons.
So there you have it, that's what the government takes of the top of that $1.03 Ontarians are paying right now. For May to suggest taxing more is ludicrous but she's certainly not the first one. Most Canadians, including all currently sitting parties in federal parliament, oppose this tax increase. The idea behind it for May was to get Canadians to drive less. Something her fellow environmentalists share. I don't think it will, and it will just mean more of our hard earned money going to the government when we're already being sucked dry as it is. It proves how out of touch the Greens are with Canadians. However, this carbon tax idea is not going away entirely. Quebec has instituted a provincial one but they are taxing oil companies directly. They have asked them nicely to absorb the cost and not pass it onto the consumer. Yeah right, they're living in a dream world if they think that will happen.

The next piece of news has to do with Kyoto and the Harper government. Seems the federal opposition parties are threatening to call a vote of non-confidence if Harper does not immediately enforce Kyoto. What a flagrant abuse of our parliamentary system that Canadians would be forced to go to the polls for something so trivial and unncessary. This responsible government crap often does more harm than good, which is why I advocate a US style republic for Canada. While this Kyoto fighting goes on, many of Canada's more important problems such as gunplay in our cities, health care wait times, etc, are simply being pushed to the back burner. That's not right. Shame on all the federal parties for doing that. However, the most blame should go to the opposition for making mountains out of mole hills and filibustering their way into an untimely election. Canada does not need this crap right now. We can only hope that when the next election does come around, we will have a Conservative majority and finally put this environment crap to bed.