EDITOR:
My goodness, the arguments and outright rejections of the carbon tax. People really have to start thinking for themselves and stop listening to politicians like Andrew Scheer or Doug Ford. I was disappointed to hear Dennis King sing from the Conservative song sheet at a recent leaders debate. Carbon tax isn’t a cure all for climate change but it’s a step in the right direction. It is discouraging to listen to the five PC provincial premiers. They argue fervently that the carbon tax is just a tax grab. Yet they offer no viable alternatives. Scheer has been promising a solution to climate change ever since he became leader of the federal PCs, but we are still waiting. I read the same excuses over and over, this tax will hurt the poor, or how about people driving miles to work each day. Well to those people I’d say this, we have a climate crisis now, and is getting worse each year while we do nothing. We have only one planet, if we lose it, nobody will be driving to work and it will no longer matter to the poor. During the Second World War, gas was rationed, food was rationed and there were shortages of everything. Strangely, people survived. We walked. We cycled. We shared rides. We took the bus. We saved everything that could be reused. I remember those days living during the London blitz. I wonder if younger generations can understand this. We did what we needed to do or had to do. Today, we are facing an uncertain future, violent weather will cost us more than a carbon tax. It is fear mongering to say it’s a tax grab. It’s fearmongering to say this will hurt the poor and it’s fearmongering claiming to have to drive miles to work. The poor are already in dire straits but is a gas tax their biggest worry. Maybe deciding to buy meds or food or rent is a little higher on their lists. Most of the arguments against the carbon tax is founded in political rhetoric. Politicians trying to score points or win votes. Climate change is very real and it’s getting worse while we argue over what to do. To the naysayers I offer this, come up with a better option or stop complaining about the present solution. My final question. Are there no families actually worrying about the world we are leaving to our children?
F. Ben Rodgers
Abram Village