Roundup: Carbon backstop bolstered

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News of the forthcoming report on the benefits of carbon taxes (and the associated rebates) to individual Canadians has been ricocheting through the Hill, from Liberals cheering on its results – found to be bulletproofed by the fact that they come from Stephen Harper’s former policy director – to Conservatives who are trying to insist that it’s really all a scam, and that these rebate cheques will never actually appear because they want to preserve the narrative that it’s all one big tax grab to pay for Trudeau’s “out of control” spending, and so on. But as economist Kevin Milligan points out, it’s going to be pretty tough for them to ignore

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1042973291089035264

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1042975960151121920

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1042978866136997888

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1042981192755081218

https://twitter.com/kevinmilligan/status/1042987858552795136

It’s almost like the federal government had this in mind when they gave provinces the directive to design carbon pricing programmes that fit their local economies, with the federal backstop being in place if they chose not to. And has been pointed out, it’s going to be hard to run against the programme if people are getting cheques in the mail from the federal government.

Good reads:

  • NAFTA talks have concluded for the week, and word has it that Canada is pushing for a “tariff shield” to prevent Trump from using tariff threats like a “toy.”
  • There is also talk that Canada may be holding off on finalizing the agreement until after the Quebec election (possibly because of dairy concessions?).
  • AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde wants Indigenous measures put into other NAFTA chapters after a stand-alone chapter was abandoned during talks.
  • At the G7 environment ministers meeting in Halifax, Canada has signed onto the Global Ghost Gear Initiative to tackle abandoned fishing gear in the oceans.
  • The government hasn’t managed to fulfil their promise to hire enough veterans affairs case workers, but insist they’re filling positions as fast as physically possible.
  • The Infrastructure Bank is spending a lot of money on bureaucracy but not projects just yet – though they’ve said they need time. (Recall that P3 Canada was the same).
  • MPs passed a unanimous motion in the Commons yesterday to declare the targeting of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar to be a genocide.
  • Ruh-roh! It seems that the NEB has found that hundreds of pipeline parts were not manufactured up to Canadian standards, and have the potential to fail.
  • The Canadian Forces reviewed 179 sexual assault allegations that were deemed “unfounded” and have decided to re-open 23 of those investigations.
  • Here’s a breakdown of rejections for Canada Summer Jobs grants, where there was a higher rate in Conservative ridings (but mostly socially conservative areas).
  • An investigation has found that a Quebec program for immigrant investors has been abused, and applicants were not properly vetted (and settled in BC and Ontario).
  • Curiously, Jack Mintz was before the Senate finance committee arguing against the kinds of capital write-downs that business groups are calling for.

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