Hamilton industrial site

The facts about carbon pricing in Canada

Climate and Energy

In 2019, every jurisdiction in Canada will have a price on carbon. It is the culmination of four years of work to develop a more coordinated approach to climate policy across Canada. Provinces had the opportunity to design their own carbon pricing systems. The federally designed carbon pricing policy (aka, the “backstop”) will come into […]

Why the Ecofiscal Commission is intervening in the carbon-pricing court case

Climate and Energy

This week, the Ecofiscal Commission will participate as an intervener in the Saskatchewan government’s court challenge of the federal carbon pricing policy. We will not be there to support the federal government; nor will we be there to support the Saskatchewan government. We’ll be there to support carbon pricing. We support carbon pricing for several […]

When we debate carbon pricing, can we at least stick to the facts?

Climate and Energy

As a group of economists, we still believe that facts should matter when it comes to making important policy decisions. Unfortunately, not everyone involved in the Canadian climate policy debate appears to agree. Myths and rhetoric are pushing the real facts to the sidelines. The result is a mix of confusion and polarization that is […]

People snowshoewing and talking, possible about climate change, need to talk about it, and climate action

Show and Tell: It’s time to stop hiding our support for climate action

Climate and Energy

Earlier this month, an all-star lineup in the United States endorsed a plan for a carbon tax. Signed by 45 economists from across the political spectrum, the list included former Federal Reserve chairs and Nobel Prize winners. If that’s not carbon pricing going mainstream, I don’t know what is. Yet despite the growing consensus and […]

Carbon pricing works—even if emissions are still rising

Climate and Energy

An old, debunked argument against carbon taxes has flared up recently: If total emissions aren’t falling, the tax must not be working. Let’s quash that myth. We at the Ecofiscal Commission and others have written extensively and consistently on this subject (see here, here, here). Without new policies, emissions have been trending up. But bending […]

Up in the Air: A look at Ontario’s new climate policy

Climate and Energy

After coming to power, Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government got right to work on climate policy. Over the last six months, they’ve dismantled the province’s cap-and-trade program, loosened the province’s emissions targets, and taken the federal government to court over the carbon-pricing backstop; all the while, we were told a new plan was coming. Today, the PCs unveiled […]

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