Election 2008

It's election time again and the environment has some play in the campaign. Candidates report that when asked, Canadians want to know about their party's environmental policies. Furthermore, an Ekos poll released on September 7 found that nearly two-thirds of Canadians see global warming as the most important issue facing the country in the medium- to long-term.

In case all the talk about a tax shift, cap-and-trade and carbon-neutral makes your head spin, I've selected a few articles from past issues of Alternatives that will help you better understand the green platforms put forward by the federal parties.

Make sure you vote,

Nicola Ross
Executive Editor

PS. Check out our special election subscription offer

Green Shift or Bull Shift?

As fast as the Liberals can promote their Green Shift, the Tories are tearing it apart with claims that it is too risky in these uncertain economic times. Meanwhile, the idea of a shift away from taxing income to taxing pollution has long been a Green Party policy. The Greens refer to it as a change from taxing good things to taxing bad ones, which, they argue, will encourage the behaviour we want.

In "Tax Shift," Lawson Hunter gives you the lowdown on what green taxation is all about. It's not, according to Hunter, as scary or as complicated as some politicians make it out to be.

Calculating your Green Taxes

You can calculate the gross tax benefit you will receive should the Liberals implement their Green Shift.

Visit http://www.thegreenshift.ca/default_e.aspx and use the Liberals' Green Shift Tax Benefit Calculator.
But let me warn you, the calculator only gives you your tax benefit. You have to get into the fine print in the policy document to understand how much carbon tax you will have to pay.

The best way to minimize the green tax that you will owe is through home heating. Have a large home that you heat with oil? Then you may have to pay a lot. Have a small home with geothermal heat or a woodstove? You'll hang on to some of your Green Shift Tax Benefit.

The majority of the green taxes that you will pay under the Liberals' Green Shift will depend on whether or not companies pass the taxes levied against them along to consumers. You can keep your taxes down by reducing your consumption - remember Reduce is the first of the three Rs - but you will likely pay extra if you purchase items with a high carbon footprint, such as a gas-guzzling automobile or a consumer items transported for distant countries.

The gasoline you put in your car, however, will not be subject to an extra green tax under the Liberal's plan, since the government already charges Canadians an excise tax on gasoline, and the Liberals say that they do not plan to increase it.

The Carbon Tax Tango

In 2006, Alternatives asked a pair of eminent Canadian economists to battle it out over carbon taxes. Although it may not be obvious when you read "The Carbon Tax Tango," it appears that Simon Fraser University's Mark Jaccard may have helped change the mind of his debating partner, then University of Toronto professor Jack Mintz.

In late 2006, Mintz, who has since moved to the University of Calgary, wrote this in "The Carbon Tax Tango" (Alternatives 32:3, 2006): "...carbon taxation has recently reared its ugly head with Liberal leadership contender Michael Ignatieff proposing to implement it federally." Later, he adds, "A carbon tax will not be an effective environmental policy compared to regulations accompanied by flexible tradable permit trading..."

A short 18-months later, writing in the National Post (June 2, 2008 "Jack Mintz on the carbon tax: The best of a costly lot" ), Mintz says, "The carbon tax seems like good idea in economic and environmental terms...."

Taxing carbon is an idea that is new and confusing for most Canadians. If implemented, however, it will mark a shift in our society from strictly valuing the economy, to valuing our environment too. It's a move, I'd argue, whose time has come.

Call for Proposal

Alternatives' Second Annual Books Issue
Due October 15, 2008

The months have flown by, and it is time to start planning for Alternatives' annual spring issue on the best in environmental books and writing. We are looking for reviewers to join us in writing about some of the latest and most innovative environmental books released in the last year.

Read the full call for proposals.

Word on The Street

September 28, 2008
WOTS Kitchener
By popular demand the Alternatives booth will present the special festival subscription deal - lots of extras -- come by the booth and subscribe!

WOTS Toronto
11:00am Alternatives' executive editor Nicola Ross leads a conversation on environmental journalism in Canada
11:30am Join Alternatives author Dan Yashinsky's exploration of how listening, storytelling and myth are a part of environmental activism.

Click here for more details on both workshops.

It would not be Word on the Street for many patrons without Alternatives' special festival subscription deal. Lots of extras -- come by the booth and subscribe!

Leading Edge 2008 Conference - October 1 & 2

Our executive editor Nicola Ross will be leading a session on Approaches to Consensus and Community Involvement (3:15pm on Thursday, October 2) at this year's Niagara Escarpment conference at the Monora Park Pavilion in Orangeville, Ontario.

Check here for more information on this annual conference.