Canadian Parvasi Issue 29 November 2019

The International News Weekly Canada
November 29, 2019 | Toronto 02
Hiking carbon tax to $210 cheapest way to
hit Canada’s climate targets: commission
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA : The Ecofiscal
Commission says
quadrupling Canada’s
carbon price by 2030
is the easiest and most
cost-effective way for the
country to meet its climate
targets.
But the independent
think-tank also warns
that might be the toughest
plan to sell to the public
because the costs of
carbon taxes are highly
visible.
The commission is
issuing its final report
today after spending the
last five years trying
to prove to Canadians
we can address climate
change without killing
the economy.
The report looks at
the options for Canada to
toughen climate policies
to meet the 2030 goal of
cutting greenhouse-gas
emissions by almost onethird
from where they
are now.
The choices include
raising the carbon price,
introducing new regulations
and adding subsidies
to encourage and
reward greener, cleaner
behaviour.
The report concludes
that all of those can reduce
emissions but that
carbon pricing stands
out for doing it with the
lowest cost to consumers
while permitting the
most economic growth.
It adds that the economic
benefits of carbon pricing
become even greater
if the revenues are returned
to Canadians
through corporate and
personal income-tax cuts,
rather than direct household
rebates as is done
now.
Commission chair
Chris Ragan said hiking
the carbon price $20 per
year between 2022 and
2030, until it hits $210 per
tonne, would get Canada
to its targets under the
Paris Agreement on cutting
emissions. That
would be on top of the
$50-a-tonne price on carbon
emissions that will
be in place by 2022.
The federal price, in
provinces where it applies,
is at $20 per tonne
now, and is going up $10
a year in each of the next
three years.
Rebates would also
grow to keep the tax revenue-neutral,
the commission
said.
The federal Liberals
have promised to review
the carbon tax in 2022 to
determine what happens
to it, but have been noncommittal
about what
that might be.
Canada’s federal tax
is only applied in provinces
without equivalent
provincial systems. Right
now those are Saskatchewan,
Manitoba, Ontario
and New Brunswick. Alberta
will be added in
January.
Ragan said regulations
and subsidies
would also work to cut
emissions but are more
expensive. Governments
lean on regulations and
subsidies, however, because
their costs are often
less visible to voters,
making them more politically
palatable, at least
at first. They still distort
the economy, he said,
just not as obviously.
“It’s crazy to use
high-cost policies if
you know that lower
cost policies are
available,” he said.
“Why would we do
that?”
Carbon prices
can include fuel taxes
and cap-and-trade
systems where emissions
are restricted
and credits must be
purchased to emit
anything beyond the
cap.
Regulations can
be either very specific,
such as requiring
agricultural producers
to capture methane
from manure
or cities to capture
methane from landfills,
or broad, such
as telling industrial
emitters they have
to find a way to cut
emissions in half by
a certain date. Subsidies
can mean helping people
or companies install
more efficient lighting
and appliances or to buy
electric vehicles.
Canada’s current policies
are a mix of all three.
Under the Paris accord,
Canada committed
to cutting greenhousegas
emissions to 511 million
tonnes by 2030. In
2017, the most recent year
for which data is available,
Canada emitted 716
Virsa
Fine Indian Restaurant
Niagara Falls
GuMmx jf rhy ho?
Indian
Food
million tonnes.
A year ago, Environment
and Climate Change
Canada said its existing
platter of policies leaves
the country 79 million
tonnes short.
Earlier this month
the international Climate
Transparency organization
said Canada was
among the three members
of the G20 group of
big economies that are
least likely to hit their
2030 climate targets.
The Falls
a family Lodge
D.Kang 289 296 5001
info@sherepunjabnf.com II www.sherepunjabnf.com
5677 Victoria Ave, Niagara Falls, ON, L2G 3L5
Working with provinces on
agenda as Trudeau meets Ball
on Parliament Hill
OTTAWA : Newfoundland and Labrador Premier
Dwight Ball says it’s time for his fellow provincial
leaders to put their focus back on Canadians instead
of internal, domestic squabbles.
He is downplaying any talk about revising the
equalization formula, which distributes federal
money to help cash-strapped provinces deliver services
and which western premiers have raised in
their grievances with Justin Trudeau’s government
in Ottawa. Premiers are set to meet next week
in Toronto, and Ball says he’ll talk about ways to
help provinces whose economies depend on natural
resources cope with downturns, among other
measures to keep provincial finances sustainable.
Ball, a Liberal, says he won’t go into the meeting
wearing any political stripe.
Ball met Trudeau on Parliament Hill this morning
in the latest in a series of sit-downs the prime
minister has had with provincial premiers since
last month’s federal election. The prime minister
said the two would talk about pharmacare, which
Trudeau called “always interesting to Dwight” —
prompting a smile from Ball, who has pressed the issue
in premiers’ meetings — and how to work with
other provinces “to ensure things are going well.”
Manpreet Minhas
Barrister & Solicitor
REAL ESTATE
Rupinder Minhas
Barrister & Solicitor
Sale/Purchase of Residential & Commercial Properties
Mortgage Enforcements & Lease
Refinance & Private Mortgages
BUSINESS LAW
Incorporation & Shareholder agreements
Sales & Purchase of Assets & Shares
Notarization & Affidavits
First
Consultation
FREE
WILLS & ESTATE
www.minhaslawyers.ca
Wills
Certificate of Estate Trustee with/without will
Power of attorney for Property & Personal care
CRIMINAL LAW
Drink & Drive offences
Bail Hearings
Domestic Assaults
Every Client Matters
Tel: 905-671-9244
Fax: 905-671-9245
IMMIGRATION
Skilled Worker Category
Spousal & Family Sponsorships
Students permit Visas & Renewals
138-2960 Drew Road Mississauga, ON. L4T 0A5 (Airport/Drew Rd, Near Malton Gurughar)