May 5, 2008

Almost daily we are bombarded by conflicting information on what needs to be done to combat climate change. Since Premier Campbell returned from his annual Maui vacation in 2007, British Columbia has been talking up for a full assault on greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing our collective emissions is a challenge of monumental importance. But for citizens to embrace the policies that are being developed they must be fair, transparent and effective.

The two primary mechanisms government is proposing to address the climate change challenge are a carbon tax and an industrial cap and trade system. The carbon tax is applied at the point of sale and meant to encourage people to use less carbon fuels. However, it gives big polluters a pass, while making ordinary people pay. It taxes consumers without providing transportation alternatives for people in rural areas. And despite the government's rhetoric, it is not revenue neutral. Public services like schools, hospitals and municipalities will have to shoulder the cost of the carbon tax without an increase in funding.

So why do large emitters get a free pass? The Liberals say the cap and trade system will manage industrial emissions. The plan calls for a system for industrial polluters to cap emissions and trade any amounts below the cap to industries that exceed the legal level. But the bill introduced this session is a shell and the details are to follow next year or later. The legislation that will make these policies law does little to assure taxpayers that the plan will actually reduce our overall emissions. Indeed, budget documents reveal that even with a tax on fuel and record high prices at the pump, consumption will continue to increase annually.

So what are we to make of all of this? Clearly we want to see policies that are fair, transparent and effective. If transportation is responsible for 38% of our emissions, what alternatives are we developing for rural and suburban residents? If the oil and gas sector is the main culprit, why are we continuing to subsidize exploration and then exploiting these carbon fuel resources for export? Record high coal prices are seeing a revival in the mining sector for export to feed offshore steel mills and coal fired electricity plants.

While government is shaping domestic polices that will cost us more and may not realize any significant reductions, our trade and economic development polices are silent on climate change.

If we are to all buy in to the solution, we all need to fully understand the rationale for embarking on the journey. By maintaining a cone of silence around the process, the government is asking us to accept the wisdom of closed-door decisions without a full understanding of the magnitude of the problem, or the value of the measures being proposed to mitigate the damage. If the Campbell government really wants the public to have a stake in capping our emissions, the time has come for government to include the electorate in the discussion.

All parties and all levels of government need to be at the table. What is needed is an open dialogue and an equitable distribution of responsibility, sector by sector, individual by individual, corporation by corporation. To do less will mean that politics will be the order of the day and resolution of the challenge we all face will be secondary to scoring points and further confusing an already befuddling debate. Put the partisanship aside Mr. Premier and let some genuine discussion begin.