The debates are over, and not one question was asked about energy, greenhouse gas policy, or oil sands. If you want to read what I would have asked each of the leaders, read on…
To Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada:
In your platform, you re-iterated your commitment to Canada’s goal of reducing GHG emissions to 17% below our 2005 levels, by 2020 and stated that your climate change plan is working. Environment Canada estimated earlier this year that all the current measures implemented or planned by both the federal and provincial governments would leave Canada 178 Mt short of your goal. Earlier this year, then-Environment Minister Peter Kent said that, “significant work remains (to meet our targets),” and that, “(the Conservative Government) intends to continue to develop performance standards for other major sectors of the economy.”
The only concrete new actions proposed in the Conservative platform are the provision of a loan guarantee to the Lower Churchill Falls hydroelectric project, expected to reduce GHG emissions by 4.5 Mt, along with an extension of the ecoEnergy Retrofit Credit which will likely lead to less than 1Mt of emissions reductions, and an un-budgeted commitment to finance economically viable clean energy projects.
I would like to know how a Conservative government plans to reach our targets. In particular, what additional regulations will be imposed on industrial sectors of the Canadian economy including oil sands under a Conservative government?
To Michael Ignatieff, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
Your platform clearly identifies a priority on cleaner oilsands production. You have committed to a cap-and-trade program for GHG emissions reductions and an immediate cancellation of the Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance program, with permit auction and increased tax revenues slated to be re-invested in improving the environmental performance of the industry. At the same time, your party platform supports a moratorium on tanker traffic off BC’s Northern Coast. Do you believe that, with cleaner oil sands production in place, continued near-exclusive reliance on the US market represents the best way to maximize the value of a resource which you have previously stated that, “we will be developing for a century?” If not, how would a Liberal government support the diversification of markets for oil sands products?
To Jack Layton, Leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada
Your platform describes $2 billion in revenues from the, “cancellation of fossil fuel subsidies,” and yet you have provided no detail on which programs would be cancelled in order to recoup this amount of revenue. Tax incentives offered by the federal government have been evaluated at approximately $1 billion by the IISD, and at significantly less than this by Jack Mintz. Would you please elaborate on which measures you plan to cancel, the revenue you expect to recover from each action, and how you expect the cancellation of those programs to affect oil and gas exploration and development in Canada and whether you expect any change in associated corporate and personal income tax revenues.
Why didn’t you ask the Green Party a question?
Hi Suzanne,
Good question. I likely should have. I started with the parties participating in the debate, and decided not to cover a question for the Bloc. I’ll fire one up for the Greens right now.
Andrew
Oh I think you should totally do the Bloc platform. Would be great to examine if in fact most of Quebec’s problems can be blamed on big oil companies in Alberta.
The Bloc has a much more complete platform on environment and climate change than the conservatives. The fact that he can not be the government is not really an argument, if you’re asking questions to the Green Party or even the NDP.
Pascal, Thanks for reading.
I did not address regional platforms. The Bloc platform clearly states a regional interest, which is a surprise to nobody. To use language from their platform, “What sets (The Bloc) apart from the other parties is that they focus on Canada while we focus on Québec.”
If I were to ask a question, I would likely ask one of two things. First, I would ask how their policy stance can support government support for the forestry and aerospace sectors while advocating a position to, “abolish tax give-aways for oil companies?” Besides these sectors being located in Quebec, what attributes make them worthy of continued government support that are not present in the oil sector? Second, I would ask whether the Bloc Quebecois believes that the asbestos industry should continue to receive federal and provincial government support. The Bloc platform, in my view, is clearly focused on advancing Quebec versus on addressing particular issues in a consistent way. That’s why I chose not to address a question to them.
Andrew
Where do you stand on Preston Manning’s advocacy of full cost accounting for all the water, soil, natural gas, on both inputs/extraction and outputs/emission of Tar Sands?
And, where do you stand on the questions of natural capital accounting in general (UN TEEB etc.)?
I suggest also you should distance yourself strongly from Lorrie Goldstein who is an open racist, asserting among other things that all carbon offset projects in developing nations are inherently scams, and whose lies in other matters are well documented. In the long run you are better off disavowing him and explaining what constitutes a good ethical offset regime and what does not, if that’s of interest. But don’t let him speak for you nor claim (as he does) that based on your analysis that the entire Canadian transport sector needs to be shut down by some date.
As an economist you should be aware of the abuse of aggregates. It’s no more valid to say that than to say that we can no longer flush toilets as of some date because we are moving to a 6 litre rather than 13 litre standard. Goldstein is a dangerous individual whom you shouldn’t help. He does not employ logic but lies and fallacy.
Hi Craig,
Thanks for reading. Generally, I am in favour of full-cost accounting, but I also worry that the complexities are overwhelming. I would much rather see a system which forces us to deal with the most significant external costs of production, sacrificing perfection for simplicity. I also don’t think that any policy should be applied only on oil sands. I think the approach of focusing on oil sands because they are a relatively new and growing industry misses the point of full-cost accounting – we should be looking to maximize the net benefits we derive from our resources, and this should apply to everything we do. In such a system, I expect that you would see coal fired power disappear almost immediately, along with some ethanol sources. Oil sands would not be at the top of the list.
As far as Goldstein goes, I do not know the sum total of his writing, but have seen some of his recent pieces on climate policy. In terms of his figures, he said the “equivalent” of the Canadian transport sector, which today is about 164Mt/yr. The Tory government has committed to finding another 178Mt/yr of emissions reductions by 2020, so it’s actually a useful analogy for just how big of a challenge it would be. The reason that I challenged his use of the comparative figures was that it was a comparison I had made in a piece in the Globe 10 days beforehand. I thought he had taken his example from my writing without attribution, but he has acknowledged my contribution and we are over that now. By no means does my conversation with him, or with anyone, imply that I endorse everything they do or write.
Thanks for reading!
Andrew