Friday, March 26, 2021

Canada's Supreme Court rules federal carbon tax is constitutional - end of story, right?

Various Canadian courts have ruled that the federal carbon tax is perfectly legal and constitutional over the last few years, bilutvrhe Conservative premiers of Alberta  Saskatchewan and Ontario chose not to believe them, and insisted on spending more taxpayers' money by escalating it to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Well, the Supreme Court has spoken, and ruled - surprise, surprise! - that Canada's federal carbon tax is indeed perfectly legal and constitutional, and that the federal government is well within its rights, under the "peace, order and good government" clause of the constitution, to impose a price on carbon in those intransigent provinces who will not do so themselves, on the grounds that global warming is a critical national and international problem that is too important to be left to the whims of provincial premiers with their own personal agendas.

After the judgement was handed down, Scott Moe of Saskatchewan basically, rolled over and said he would institute his own carbon tax, so that he can at least day he is in control of his own destiny (even if he is not). Ontario's Doug Ford despatched a junior minister to make a statement, and just mumbled something about at least Ontario still having their industrial carbon rules. Only Mad Dog Kenney from Alberta continued to bluster, as is his wont, vowing that climate change remains "a political issue", yada, yada, "a democratic issue", yada, yada, "not going to use the excuse of this decision or the federal carbon tax to "squeeze more money for the government out of Albertans", yada, yada (someone hasn't read up on how a carbon tax works).

Anyway, at least certain provinces will hopefully stop waxing lyric about how a national carbon tax is unconstitutional (don't hold your breath, though), although obviously the whole subject will remain a hot-button party political issue, especially in the wake of the federal Conservative Party's vote to effectively deny climate change, and leader Erin O'Toole's response to the legal ruling: "Canada's conservatives will repeal Mr. Trudeau's carbon tax". Sigh....

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