The Green Shift
Yesterday Stephane Dion did something many leaders have great difficulty doing. He took a chance. It was a big one, and the reactions of Canadians over the next few weeks will determine whether his Green Shift will pay off in the next election and beyond. The science on global warming is clear. Morally I expect many Canadians agree that we should not be able to pollute the earth endlessly as a means of propping up an energy inefficient society.
Dion’s Green Shift will see a reduction of personal income taxes, the enhancement of tax credits as a means of letting Canadians keep more of their hard earned money. The shift will see the government tax carbon instead. While many Canadians are apprehensive about any unknown tax implication, the reality is our current reliance on fossil fuels is not sustainable, costs are soaring and we’re causing climate change that is having real impacts on the quality of our life. The Green Shift is an impetus for Canadians to begin to take conservation more seriously, and rewards those who do by allowing them to keep more of their pay cheque.
When implemented the increased costs of carbon will be reflected in non renewable energy. You can expect that the cost per kWh on your hydro bill will increase to some degree. This will probably be the most noticeable reflection of a carbon tax for most Ontarians. But you have alternatives. Maybe you decide you don’t want to pay to pollute, and you do not support the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity. As long as you pay your own hydro bill, you can choose to transfer your service to a clean, carbon neutral company like Bullfrog Power (http://www.bullfrogpower.com). They create energy from wind and hydro-electric and sell it into the system for their clients. According to Bullfrog, it is about a dollar more a day for the average home, but once the implications of the carbon tax are reflected in your bill, that gap would very likely narrow.
A small step I made about a month ago was with my website hosting. While looking around, I wanted to find a company that was environmentally friendly as servers use a lot of electricity both for their work and to cool the room they are in. I opted to go with Dreamhost (www.dreamhost.com) because they are carbon neutral. It is a very small step, but one that I made because I was going to be paying someone for the service and thought best to reward good behaviour and environmental sustainability.
If you take a look at the system of tax cuts Dion is calling for under this plan, he is largely focusing them on lower and middle income Canadians which hopefully will go a long way to get the ball rolling on his party’s 30/50 poverty reduction plan. Take a look at the tax reduction calculator at www.thegreenshift.ca to see what someone in your situation would save. According to Stats Can the average family income in Scarborough Guildwood is just under $60 000. That family will see a tax reduction of $1350 according to the Liberal plan.
While this is still very risky territory and only time will tell how Canadians feel about this. Dion is right to start this debate now. Canada must begin to address climate change. We have the opportunity to be a world leader and push larger countries to follow our lead and make a significant difference.
At the very least, the conversation will allow Canadians to see two very different leaders on the hustings. The Prime Minister so far has said Dion’s carbon tax will “screw everybody” and “Mr. Dion’s policies are crazy. This is crazy economics. It’s crazy environmental policy.” This to me demonstrates a certain level of discomfort with something that the Conservatives can see Canadians agreeing is the right thing to do.
Tags: Environment, Green Shift
