National Roundtable on Environment and Economy eliminated for pushing a carbon tax, Conservative government says
OTTAWA—The Conservatives are killing off a respected panel that has advised governments on environmental policy for decades because it clashed with Tory ideology, Foreign Minister John Baird says.
Baird said the National Roundtable on the Environment and Economy — created by former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1988 — had committed the offence of pushing Ottawa to implement a carbon tax as a way to encourage industry to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
He said the panel, which is made up of government-appointed industry experts, environmentalists, academics and former bureaucrats, had authored at least 10 reports over the years urging the government to put a price on carbon.
Baird said Canadians rejected that policy when his party won the 2008 election over the Liberals, who were then led by Stéphane Dion.
“I think the last thing the government needs is to pay for another report encouraging a carbon tax when Canadians have spoken up definitively that they do not want a carbon tax,” he said.
Baird’s retort adds a nefarious twist to the public explanation from Environment Minister Peter Kent.
Officials in his office reiterated as recently as last Friday that the roundtable, with a budget of $5.2 million, “filled an important need in the past” but its functions can now be replaced by free advice and research from environmental groups, academics and international organizations.
The decision to eliminate the roundtable has been criticized by those who say that the only advice the government receives will now be tainted by interest groups pushing a polarized agenda.
“(The NRTEE) did reflect what a lot of people would consider an almost Canadian value, which is to arrive at some consensus-based decision making around this,” one former roundtable official told the Star last week.
“In the absence of that we’re left with interest groups that are just going to outspend and outbid and outshout each other to make the case that they have to make.”
Liberal Leader Bob Rae said independent and dissenting advice is essential to run the country.
“The government may not agree with it, it may not fit in with the government’s agenda, but that’s exactly the point,” he said. “That’s why we have something called a democracy.”
He also noted “whole ranges of groups across the country” want Ottawa to put a price on carbon both to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to provide industrial investors with the economic certainty they need to make business decisions.
In the last month, a major project in Alberta that was to have taken one million tonnes of carbon out of the air each year was abandoned in part because the government has not set up a system to put a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and trade them in a carbon market.
Energy giant TransAlta stopped work on a massive carbon capture and storage development near Edmonton after completing a study on its economic feasibility. Company vice-president Don Wharton put the blame at the feet of the federal and provincial governments, which had both invested heavily in the project to cut emissions in Alberta’s oilsands.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...ing-a-carbon-tax-conservative-government-says
OTTAWA—The Conservatives are killing off a respected panel that has advised governments on environmental policy for decades because it clashed with Tory ideology, Foreign Minister John Baird says.
Baird said the National Roundtable on the Environment and Economy — created by former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1988 — had committed the offence of pushing Ottawa to implement a carbon tax as a way to encourage industry to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
He said the panel, which is made up of government-appointed industry experts, environmentalists, academics and former bureaucrats, had authored at least 10 reports over the years urging the government to put a price on carbon.
Baird said Canadians rejected that policy when his party won the 2008 election over the Liberals, who were then led by Stéphane Dion.
“I think the last thing the government needs is to pay for another report encouraging a carbon tax when Canadians have spoken up definitively that they do not want a carbon tax,” he said.
Baird’s retort adds a nefarious twist to the public explanation from Environment Minister Peter Kent.
Officials in his office reiterated as recently as last Friday that the roundtable, with a budget of $5.2 million, “filled an important need in the past” but its functions can now be replaced by free advice and research from environmental groups, academics and international organizations.
The decision to eliminate the roundtable has been criticized by those who say that the only advice the government receives will now be tainted by interest groups pushing a polarized agenda.
“(The NRTEE) did reflect what a lot of people would consider an almost Canadian value, which is to arrive at some consensus-based decision making around this,” one former roundtable official told the Star last week.
“In the absence of that we’re left with interest groups that are just going to outspend and outbid and outshout each other to make the case that they have to make.”
Liberal Leader Bob Rae said independent and dissenting advice is essential to run the country.
“The government may not agree with it, it may not fit in with the government’s agenda, but that’s exactly the point,” he said. “That’s why we have something called a democracy.”
He also noted “whole ranges of groups across the country” want Ottawa to put a price on carbon both to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to provide industrial investors with the economic certainty they need to make business decisions.
In the last month, a major project in Alberta that was to have taken one million tonnes of carbon out of the air each year was abandoned in part because the government has not set up a system to put a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and trade them in a carbon market.
Energy giant TransAlta stopped work on a massive carbon capture and storage development near Edmonton after completing a study on its economic feasibility. Company vice-president Don Wharton put the blame at the feet of the federal and provincial governments, which had both invested heavily in the project to cut emissions in Alberta’s oilsands.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...ing-a-carbon-tax-conservative-government-says
