There are better ways to improve affordability, such as policies to reduce housing, child care and other major costs of living

Whenever I hear politicians propose to cut the carbon price, I can’t help but think back to my childhood growing up with divorced parents.

On the rare occasions my dad took me for weekends, he would offer me candy and let me stay up late.

“Why can’t you be more like him?” I’d yell after returning home as my mom made me do my homework, eat vegetables and go to bed on time.

So it is with proponents of Axe the Tax. They offer us candy, when the federal government, like my mom, expects us to live responsibly.

…

But a politician’s promise that pollution can be free is no more realistic than my childish fantasy that I could live on candy alone.

We are all entangled in an energy system that helps and harms our children. While it enables us to taxi our kids around, and keep them warm, it also poisons the air they breathe, evaporates the water they need to drink and burns the forests in which they play.

…

To preserve summers without smoke, winters when our kids can ski, water they can drink and forests and wildlife with which they can live in awe.

That’s why we pay for our pollution.

This dude gets it. We need to do so much more, but walking back the carbon tax is a terrible idea.

https://archive.is/kpZQu

  • sbvOPEnglish
    7·
    8 months ago

    Agreed.

    The carbon tax is just a tax on life if we dont provide less carbon intensive options for people to use.

    Again, I agree. I have few positive things to say about our current federal government, but they have introduced incentives that would move people off carbon intensive heating options. From what I’ve read, even the ridiculous heating oil carve out for maritime voters came with a generous and well designed package of incentives to get off heating oil.

    There’s no question that we should be doing more, but doing less is a ridiculous suggestion.

    • Funderpants @lemmy.ca
      10·
      8 months ago

      Thanks to the Federal government and a provincial government being a good partner (PEI) I was able to move to an EV and heat pumps over the last few years.

      • sbvOPEnglish
        3·
        8 months ago

        Thanks for posting that. I agree with all the other commenters saying we need to do more, but we also need to support what is being done now.

        I’m not endorsing the federal liberals with that statement, I’m saying all parties need to provide effective climate policy.