Dear British Columbia
How are things? I mean, really – how are things going for you? I’ve been hearing some…well, disturbing things lately and I just wanted to touch base and see if you were okay.
I will admit it’s been too long since we last saw each other. 11 years to be precise, since I made my way to the Pacific and back. It seems lot’s has changed since then.
As you know, Alberta’s been riding an economic boom unlike anything we can remember. Times are good (as long as you’re in a business related to oil), and even though we have our…um…difficulties? – rising number of homeless, skyrocketing housing and living costs, fast food restaurants closing at 3:00pm due to staffing shortages – we’ve been able to keep things afloat.
We’ve been able to keep it together over the whole American enviroNazi ‘dirty oil’ smear of our oilsands development, and have kept the Treehuggers and their ‘sky is falling’ dogma at bay for the most part.
This brings me to the point of the letter:
A freakin’ carbon tax? Seriously?
Don’t get me wrong, I get the ‘save the world’ stuff and I’d love a fix-it-quick solution. But folks, this just ain’t it. Never mind the questionable claims by your government about how many trees and fish and birds this tax will save – the answer is zero, by the way – and never mind the line about future tax cuts somehow offsetting the jack-up of the cost of a fill-up.
Tax cuts must be paid for, either in government cutbacks (of which Albertan’s are all too familiar) or by other sources of revenue. Guess where the money to pay for the provincial Liberal government’s alleged swarm of tax cuts will come from? Even you NDPers in the crowd should get that one.
Given that the federal Liberal leader (and Canada’s Most Desperate Politician) Stephane Dion has already declared his intentions for a full-fledged attack by tax on the Canadian public if he ever becomes Prime Minister - ……take a few seconds to get over the chills……- you know he’s going to use your plan as reason to launch his.
The only saving grace is that yours is inevitably doomed to fail.
Look, I know what you’re going through. You want to be a player, a leader. You feel lost way out there on the other side of the Rockies, and you want to continue that hippie-type earthy feel you got going on there. I get the vibe.
And I know about the whole ‘embarrassing drinking premier’ thing, too. It wasn’t that long ago we had one of our own. Of course, when ours sobered up all that happened was he lost his edge, his popularity, and ultimately his job.
Yours gets busted, sobers up, and becomes a born-again socialist tree-hugging Liberal.
But let’s be real. 3, 4 or 6 cents more per litre isn’t going to do anything to help the environment. It will, however, make life much more difficult for those who are on low and fixed incomes. It will suck even more money out of your pocket and into the government’s coffers.
It’s possible that this tax will have a significant negative impact on your economy. Your provincial unemployment rate will rise, as will the number of small businesses in your beautiful province that will not be able to meet the rising tax burden and will be forced to close.
There will not be any so-called ‘possible’ reduction to greenhouse gas emissions in the province.
The only thing that this tax will possibly reduce is the length of Gordon Campbell’s term as your Premier.
I will admit it’s been too long since we last saw each other. 11 years to be precise, since I made my way to the Pacific and back. It seems lot’s has changed since then.
As you know, Alberta’s been riding an economic boom unlike anything we can remember. Times are good (as long as you’re in a business related to oil), and even though we have our…um…difficulties? – rising number of homeless, skyrocketing housing and living costs, fast food restaurants closing at 3:00pm due to staffing shortages – we’ve been able to keep things afloat.
We’ve been able to keep it together over the whole American enviroNazi ‘dirty oil’ smear of our oilsands development, and have kept the Treehuggers and their ‘sky is falling’ dogma at bay for the most part.
This brings me to the point of the letter:
A freakin’ carbon tax? Seriously?
Don’t get me wrong, I get the ‘save the world’ stuff and I’d love a fix-it-quick solution. But folks, this just ain’t it. Never mind the questionable claims by your government about how many trees and fish and birds this tax will save – the answer is zero, by the way – and never mind the line about future tax cuts somehow offsetting the jack-up of the cost of a fill-up.
Tax cuts must be paid for, either in government cutbacks (of which Albertan’s are all too familiar) or by other sources of revenue. Guess where the money to pay for the provincial Liberal government’s alleged swarm of tax cuts will come from? Even you NDPers in the crowd should get that one.
Given that the federal Liberal leader (and Canada’s Most Desperate Politician) Stephane Dion has already declared his intentions for a full-fledged attack by tax on the Canadian public if he ever becomes Prime Minister - ……take a few seconds to get over the chills……- you know he’s going to use your plan as reason to launch his.
The only saving grace is that yours is inevitably doomed to fail.
Look, I know what you’re going through. You want to be a player, a leader. You feel lost way out there on the other side of the Rockies, and you want to continue that hippie-type earthy feel you got going on there. I get the vibe.
And I know about the whole ‘embarrassing drinking premier’ thing, too. It wasn’t that long ago we had one of our own. Of course, when ours sobered up all that happened was he lost his edge, his popularity, and ultimately his job.
Yours gets busted, sobers up, and becomes a born-again socialist tree-hugging Liberal.
But let’s be real. 3, 4 or 6 cents more per litre isn’t going to do anything to help the environment. It will, however, make life much more difficult for those who are on low and fixed incomes. It will suck even more money out of your pocket and into the government’s coffers.
It’s possible that this tax will have a significant negative impact on your economy. Your provincial unemployment rate will rise, as will the number of small businesses in your beautiful province that will not be able to meet the rising tax burden and will be forced to close.
There will not be any so-called ‘possible’ reduction to greenhouse gas emissions in the province.
The only thing that this tax will possibly reduce is the length of Gordon Campbell’s term as your Premier.
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posted by Leigh Patrick Sullivan at 8:23 PM
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