Here we go again (April 19) another whiny letter about all things NDP and of course the carbon tax. When I was in graduate school at the University of Calgary in the 1980s one of my fellow students, our former prime minister, used to harp on all the whiners in Canada. Albertans, of course, were not included in his diatribes so it goes without saying he was referring to those east of the Alberta border. His solution to the problem whiners was to give them a little dose of that US medicine. While I never accepted his viewpoint and his solution, I am beginning to think he was right about whining, but wrong in who he thought the whiners were. I suggest that the most vocal and biggest whiners in Canada are those Albertans who mouth platitudes which have very little in the way of a factual basis
Last year (2017), I used 1,000 litres of gasoline. The carbon tax's additional .046 cents per litre cost me $46. I received a $200 rebate so I was ahead to the tune of $154. As a retired economist, I have been doing some work on the cost of the carbon tax to apartment buildings. One building (17 units) incurred an additional cost to each unit (assumption of one person per unit) of around $1 per month per unit. Another building of 27 units (1 person per unit) came in at slightly less than $1 per unit. If you take into account persons per unit, the additional cost of the carbon tax is around .50 cents per month per unit. As for the gigantic increase in everything we buy, as predicted by the naysayers, I see no evidence of increases in the cost of goods or services other than normal yearly amounts – and I am an extremely price-conscious individual.
As for those who do not qualify for a rebate and feel they are hard done by, here are the pertinent facts. The median household income in Alberta is $93,835, the highest in Canada after the northern territories. The next highest in Canada is Saskatchewan at $75,412. This is $18,000 less than Alberta. This bastion of free enterprise that the naysayers always like to cite has one-quarter of the population of Alberta and approximately the same cost of living. It has a six per cent provincial sales tax on most items purchased, introduced a six per cent tax on house insurance (and other types of insurance) last year, just introduced a six per cent tax on used car sales over $5,000, and pays more for electricity even though most of its power comes from coal. My brother in Regina pays 13 cents per KWH versus my recent three to four cents per KWH (last month).
Hard done by? I think not. It is time for the whiners to get their heads out of the sand. If you want to complain about something try the things that are truly significant like the fixed charges on your bills, unreasonable bank fees, predatory Telco practices, lack of competitive pricing, paying for the cost of development, and a myriad of other practices that drain your pocketbook.
James Perras
