Roundup: The big climate reveal

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Yesterday was the big day, where Justin Trudeau unveiled the final details of his carbon pricing plan, and how the rebates would work for the provinces subject to the carbon backstop, which are going to be Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, with the Yukon and Nunavut also kicking in slightly later. (You can find breakdowns here). The Conservatives and their provincial premier allies immediately chimed in to predictably call this some kind of scam, and that nobody believed the rebates would happen, and so on, and so on. Also of note is that Trudeau’s nominal ally, Brian Gallant in New Brunswick, has also grumbled about the carbon price (but if he loses and Blaine Higgs forms government, he too is opposed to it). Manufacturers and small businesses are grumbling, despite the fact that there will be rebates for small and medium-sized businesses under the scheme. Also getting larger rebates will be people in rural communities, given that they have higher carbon costs (and it’s no secret that the Liberals have a harder time winning votes there).

https://twitter.com/davidakin/status/1054753060336078848

With this in mind, here are some noted climate economists who can put some of yesterday’s announcement into proper perspective. (Additional thread from Kevin Milligan here, and Nic Rivers here).

Meanwhile, here’s a look at whether Trudeau can escape the problems of Stéphane Dion’s Green Shift, with points to Trudeau being a better communicator (but I’d argue that journalists prefacing every explanation of the Green Shift with “it’s complicated” didn’t help either). Chris Selley notes that this is the issue that could make or break Trudeau in the next election, which is why he needs to get it right. Paul Wells drops a bit of reality on the language that Scheer and Ford are using, and wonders whether the carbon backstop rebates will start catching on with other provinces.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau also reiterated that it’s going to be very difficult to break the contract for those LAVs being sold to Saudi Arabia.
  • From the archives in 2016 is a look at some of the penalties that Canada may face if we break said contract with the Saudis. More context from Dave Perry here.
  • The government voted for the Conservatives’ Supply Day motion on putting forward a plan on returning foreign fighters, and have a 45-day deadline.
  • The fisheries minister said the measures to protect right whales have worked, and there wasn’t a single whale death this summer.
  • There are concerns that Canada’s economy may be starting to overheat, which will put even more pressure on the Bank of Canada.
  • The Parliamentary Budget Officer agrees that we’ll likely see bigger deficits due to the accounting changes around pension liabilities.
  • Those three “interim” sole-sourced icebreakers will probably be used for 15 to 20 years, says the Coast Guard, but given how things work, it’ll likely be longer.
  • Chat logs from Neo-Nazi groups in Canada show that they hope to use the Canadian Forces Reserves to get military training on the cheap.
  • The Speaker has ruled that “ambulance chaser” is not unparliamentary language.
  • The whale and dolphin captivity bill has finally cleared the Senate after years of procedural obstruction.
  • Andrew Scheer hints that his emissions plan involves shifting dirtier foreign production to Canada to reduce emissions globally. Yeah, that’ll work.
  • Jagmeet Singh wants the federal government to take over the Ontario basic income pilot, but based on yesterday’s QP, it doesn’t look like that’ll happen.
  • The Ontario bill that would strip convicted terrorists of provincial benefits is absolutely unconstitutional, say law professors. But performative outrage!
  • Susan Delacourt writes about both Trudeau and Scheer trying to get out ahead of predicted nastiness in the next election.
  • My column disputes the notion that fixed election dates are somehow “more democratic.”

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