Two weeks ago in his presentation to the Senate, Baird presented a report attacking the Kyoto Accord and among other things, the report claimed this:
The Environment Canada study says the Kyoto emissions-cutting targets for Canada could be met only by introducing a massive $195-per-tonne carbon tax, which would wipe out thousands of jobs and undercut Canadians’ quality of life.
Yesterday in Vancouver, John Baird said this:
Companies that fail to meet Ottawa’s new greenhouse-gas reduction targets will be fined between $100-$200 per tonne of carbon, Environment Minister John Baird said during a stop in Vancouver to promote the Tory plan.
?????
Can someone tell me if I’ve missed something here? Or has Baird just contradicted his own Environment Canada report? Does Baird even know he’s done so?
UPDATE: Antonio of Fuddle-Duddle tells me that this proposed “tough” penalty of Ottawa’s will only be imposed from what he gathers if the polluters don’t buy the carbon off of the new proposed domestic/3 nation carbon market at 15$ a pop.. then the polluters get fined. In other wards, Baird is proposing a penalty that won’t happen if you pay what many environmental groups consider an insignificant amount into the carbon market, yet the amount they’ll get fined is the same amount the report 2 weeks ago said would be a disaster.. gotcha. Of course, because the 15$ a pop is so ridiculously low, there should be no reason ANY company would ever run afoul of the new regulations, so I guess Baird can afford to sound “tough” with his penalty.
Antonio raises a better point - he asks where the Conservatives are going to find all those credits for companies to buy in the first place, AND.. what if credit prices on the free exchange end up costing more than the fine?
(H/T to HarperBizzaro)
The other thing worth mentioning is when you have schemes like this it is likely the bigger businesses that will be able to buy up credits to meet the standards. It will likely be the little guy who gets the short end of the stick…