Deconstructing Federal Conservative Climate Policy

Andrew Scheer recently rolled out the federal climate change policy---the one that his party is going to run one in this fall's election. With regard to the climate emergency, it's total flaming nonsense. But I do think it's useful to read because it tells a lot about the Conservative party and how it's leadership thinks.

When I Googled "Conservative party Canada climate plan" the first page that showed up wasn't the plan, but rather a "sign up page" designed to grow the Conservative database.

If you want to actually look at the plan, you have to click on another (quite tiny) URL that's in the middle of the request to sign up so you can be constantly bombarded with requests for money. Seeing this, I couldn't help but think that the party really doesn't want anyone to actually read their policy paper---it's just enough to have a press conference so you can say you have one. But anyone who might be interested in it should be snapped up as quickly as possible.

Foolish me, I followed that teeny, tiny lettering and actually found the pdf in question. There was a lot of baffle gab about how great previous Conservative governments have been for the environment, but the first thing that caught my eye was this graph. It purports to show how Canada is pretty much irrelevant in the whole climate emergency.

From the introduction of A Real Plan to Protect Our Environment

Wow, it looks like Canada is pretty small potatoes when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. But it all comes down to what you want to show, and what you want to hide. Canada has a small population compared to China, India, the US, and, Europe. How about we show a more relevant number, such as how much CO2 gets emitted per person?

From the Economics Help website. Fair Use provision.
(Yeah, I'd suggest the Conservative Party could use some
help with its economics home work.)

It turns out that we aren't modest little guys with no responsibility for frying the planet. Instead, we're the sloppy ass, ignorant jerks that waste far more than almost everyone else in the neighbourhood.

I'd suggest that a modern nation, which is a leader in developing high-tech industry, with one of the highest standards of living, could do more to cut it's greenhouse gas emissions per capita than countries like China or India, which are still trying to make sure that all their citizens have enough to eat. Frankly, trotting out the old "but China and the US emit more" canard means to me that the Conservatives have decided that they just don't have to make sense. Instead, they are just trying to parse out the fraction of the population who simply don't care about either the climate, other people---or even making any sense for that matter---so they can sign them up on their database and whip them into a frenzy by voting day.

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I'm getting sick of writing post after post about how awful the Conservatives are right now. It makes me feel that somehow I'm not being "fair" or "balanced". But the fact of the matter is that currently they have their heads shoved up their butts in a truly spectacular way. These are not ordinary times. I have always tried to be as honest and objective as possible in everything I write---and it is just a fact that there is something really wrong right now with conservatives all over the planet. 

Anyway, if you like this tedious cataloging of how far the right wing has gone down the toilet, consider subscribing through either Patreon or Pay Pal. 

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After this, the plan spends a great deal of space complaining bitterly about the Liberals and then goes on about a report created by the Parliamentary Budget Office report that states that if a carbon tax ALONE WITH NOTHING ELSE BEING DONE BY ANY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT IN CANADA (something the Conservatives routinely fail to mention) was used to reduce Canada's carbon emissions to the Paris Agreement targets, it would have to rise to $102/ton. And they say themselves that this would translate into an increase of 23 cents per litre on gasoline and cost the average family $1,000 per year.

Let's look at those two numbers. First, according to Statistics Canada the highest monthly average retail gasoline price for May of 2019 was in Vancouver and was $1.69/litre. So add 23 cents, and you get $1.92/litre. How does that compare to prices in other countries? It turns out that there are something like 40 nations across the world that already pay that much---or more---for a litre of gasoline. And some of them are pretty nice countries: Spain, New Zealand, Switzerland, U. K., Ireland, Germany, Sweden, France, Finland, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Iceland, Norway, and, a whole lot of other places.    

As for that average figure of $1,000/year for the average family, I couldn't quickly find a number that averages household income (averages are pretty much useless in an age where the top 87 Canadian families own as much as the lowest 12 million individuals). But I did find a Statistics Canada number for median (that is the number where half the population make less, and, half more) household income:  $76,600.

Just to put that $1000 into a context, I went to a travel cost estimator site and it asked it to estimate a modest trip for two from Guelph to New Orleans for one week in January. That came in at a little over $2600. $1,000 to prevent runaway climate change, a decent future for our children, and, preventing the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of millions of people seems like a real bargain! And don't forget that this number of $1,000/household is an average. People who are wealthy do things that create a lot more carbon emissions (like flying to New Orleans for a week) than lower income people. And, there is no reason at all why a government cannot come up with progressive programs that help the poor deal with the increased costs that come from a carbon tax. (Although I wouldn't hold my breath if the Conservatives get elected.) Yet this is the worst case scenario that the Conservatives could come up with their attack on the Liberal carbon tax?????? Where's the commie hordes coming for your house? Or the scorched earth? (Oh---wait, that's what's going to happen if climate change isn't dealt with.)

If you don't already know, this gif comes from the movie Apocalypse Now, which was
based on Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness.

You have to wonder if Scheer and his crew have just given up on trying to make any sense at all. Maybe they've assumed that they've lost the entire "pay attention to what's going on" fraction of the population and have invested their whole campaign into "angry idiots who couldn't figure out the details if their life depended on it" contingent.

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One last thing that really bugged me about the Conservative plan is the way it relies upon "cornucopianism". That's the goofy idea that whatever problem comes along, those marvelous scientists will be able to invent something to fix it.

A cornucopia. Line drawing by Scott Foresman.
Public Domain image c/o the Wiki Commons.

The cornucopia was an ancient symbolic representation of "plenty". When you see it in art the idea is that it suggests that you needn't worry about not having enough to eat---because for some reason you have access to endless bounty. 

In a similar way, the Conservative climate change policy is that no one needs to learn to live more frugally, or, make any changes in how they live at all. They have unbounded faith that the scientists---ie: the same guys who are screaming and wailing that we have to do something fast about climate change---will invent something that will magically solve the problem without anyone having make the slightest effort. Here's how the brain trust behind Andrew Scheer describe the situation:

Green Technology, Not Taxes is the best way to lower Canada’s emissions. A Real Plan to Protect Our Environment supports green technology innovation, development, and adoption here in Canada, without making life more
expensive with new taxes.

The Trudeau Liberals put a carbon tax in place to make driving your car and heating your home more expensive, hoping that you, the consumer, will seek different, cleaner alternatives. Here is the catch: cleaner, more affordable alternatives don’t always exist. Many commuters in the GTA often do not have another option but to drive their car to work and back home to Penticton, BC their families. Seniors in rural British Columbia often have no other option but to heat their homes with affordable and reliable natural gas or propane. Middle-class families just trying to pay their bills do not always have the flexibility to make different choices, and sometimes, those choices simply aren’t available to them. In the end, Trudeau’s Carbon Tax takes money out of your pockets and puts it into the government’s coffers.

There is a better way to fight climate change and reduce our emissions. We can encourage and support the development of green technology to make environmentally friendly alternatives available. We can do this without making the lives of Canadians harder and more expensive.

(p-12 of A REAL PLAN to Protect Our Environment)

Oh those poor conservatives. They've never heard of insulation, public transit, heat pumps, etc, so they just don't have a clue about how people---ordinary, hard-working Canadians---could possible figure out how to cut down on the amount of energy they use driving cars and heating their homes.

Tell your Conservative friends. This is a "bus". It's an alternative to having to buy a car. It
can take you to work, shopping, etc. And it costs a whole lot less than a car.
Original TTC picture, cited in CBC News story. 

Paying too much money for heating? There's this new, high-tech technique known as "insulation". Here's a Liberal, commie, hippie, bastard undermining the free enterprise system by trying to cut the amount of groovy, clean, Albertan-friendly natural gas he burns. Image used under Fair Use provision, from that notorious commie rag, Canadian Woodworking and Home Improvement. 

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Furthermore, I say to you---the climate emergency must be dealt with!