In a move straight out of Donald Trump's playbook, Doug Ford and his merry band of Ontario Conservatives are pushing the limits of truthiness and realism by taking credit for the recent fall in gas prices in the province.
It is true that the price per litre of gas is hovering around the $1 mark at the moment, substantially down from the situation just a few months ago. What is not so true is that the price reductions are due to Ford's disembowelling of the province's cap-and-trade system (which is just about the only tangible effort Ontario has made towards dealing with climate change since it closed all of its coal-powered power stations several years ago).
Ford and Finance Minister Vic Fedelli and Health Minister Christine Elliot have all taken to Twitter in recent days to equate the lower pump prices with their cancellation of what they see as an iniquitous carbon tax. In actual fact, though, the vast majority of the fall in prices is due to external, global factors and not provincial fiscal policy. Average gas prices have fallen around 22c in recent months, mainly due to declining wholesale prices across North America. Only about 4c of that is due to the cancellation of cap-and-trade, but you would not know that to listen to the provincial Tories.
Fake news? Oh, don't get me started.
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