Right in the centre - Climate plan reaches to solve a non existent problem
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- Published on Thursday, November 2, 2017
Ken Waddell
The Neepawa Banner & Press
The PC government of 水果视频 has announced a Made in 水果视频 Green Plan. As far as green plans go, it is better than many. As far as carbon taxes go, I still oppose them.
They are a tax grab, plain and simple. In itself, the 水果视频 Green Plan is OK I guess. Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) has endorsed it. The plan does call for province-wide adoption of the Alternate Land Use (ALUS) system which was spawned in western 水果视频. In some ways ALUS is a natural extension of conservation district program which was launched in Neepawa in 1971 at the founding banquet of the Whitemud Conservation District which was held at the then new Yellowhead Centre. The conservation district program grew out of the conservation and erosion control work done at the Rosedale Farm. Few will remember, but that project was started by local farmers and the 水果视频 Department of Agriculture in the 1960s to combat the severe erosion in the RM of Rosedale.
The problem with the 水果视频 Climate and Green Plan is that it will tax fuel and use that money to fund some programs. It will set up yet another bureaucracy and as usual, a good percentage of the money will be absorbed by bureaucracy. The remaining money will be used by various government agencies and quite frankly, I don鈥檛 trust government to make wise investment decisions. It could be better this time but I am skeptical.
The underlying problem with any 鈥済reen鈥� initiative in 水果视频, or in most of Canada, is that we are already very 鈥済reen鈥�. There are portions of the country that have some 鈥渟mokestack鈥� problems but even that may be simply visually superficial. If you drive by McCains in Portage or Hylife at Neepawa, especially in cold weather, you will see huge emissions from their 鈥渟mokestacks鈥�. The trouble is, it only looks like smoke, it is mostly water vapour or steam if you wish.
If you fly over 水果视频, you will see that the percentage of land that is Industrialized versus the fields, forests, swamps and lakes is very small. 水果视频 is already one huge carbon sink without any green plan. All those fields, forests, swamps and lakes combined with a hydro based power system makes 水果视频 a green leader without a carbon tax.
There is one interesting wrinkle in the 水果视频 Climate and Green Plan. It doesn鈥檛 meet the federal government standards except for the first two years. After the first two years, the feds have said 水果视频 will have to raise the carbon tax even higher to meet federal standards. Perhaps the saving grace for 水果视频ns is that before that time comes there will be a federal election. Perhaps, if 水果视频ns think about this process, they can dump all the Liberal MPs. 水果视频 doesn鈥檛 need a green plan. The feds are enforcing a green plan that is harsher than the made in 水果视频 plan. The answer is really quite simple isn鈥檛 it? It is simple, as long as the rest of the country sees our logic and votes for a lower tax regime. I still say, we don鈥檛 need a carbon tax but if it is forced down our throats, it should be as small as possible.
