NDP climate plan missing a carbon tax: Greens

BELLEVILLE – The Green Party says the NDP’s climate plan is a good start, but only goes partway toward needed solutions. The NDP today released a climate plan focusing on an emissions cap-and-trade system with no sign of a carbon tax.

“Both cap-and-trade systems and a carbon tax are designed to put a price on carbon,” said Green Party leader Elizabeth May. “Most economists agree that a carbon tax is the most efficient way to go but a sectoral cap-and-trade system can also play an important role. What the NDP needs to explain is how increasing the price of carbon without providing income tax cuts for the middle class and income supplements for low-income and poor Canadians is somehow more equitable than a carbon tax shift.

“All parties need to work together to come up with the solutions that will best work for Canadians. It is clear the NDP, Liberals and the Bloc are willing to tackle the climate crisis while in Europe, Prime Minister Harper continues to put forward solutions only acceptable to George W. Bush.”

Ms. May said cap-and-trade systems take much longer to implement than carbon taxes and with the urgency of the climate crisis, Canada and the world cannot afford to wait.

“The Green Party advocates a sector-by-sector cap-and-trade system, but the central piece of our climate plan is a carbon tax, which can be implemented faster, more easily and less expensively. We must use all tools available to us in the fight against climate change.”

The NDP’s opposition to taxing carbon has put the party at odds with social democratic parties in other countries, said Ms. May. She pointed to progressive governments in European countries that have enacted carbon tax legislation.

“The concern that a carbon tax would negatively impact low-income families is simply not borne out by evidence,” said Ms. May. “Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands have adopted carbon taxes and score among the highest in the world on indicators of social equality. Through a green tax shift – reducing income and other taxes for Canadians – the Green Party would ensure a carbon tax is largely revenue neutral. Low-income Canadians will be protected and Canada will finally be on its way to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”