Ontario Premier Doug Ford gave a speech this week to the Economic Club of Canada in which he warned that the federal government's carbon tax risks triggering a recession. Apparently a thousand people paid to hear him intone that "a carbon tax will be a total economic disaster. There are already economic warning signs on the horizon. I'm here today to ring the warning bell that the risk of a carbon tax recession is very, very real."
Ford is acting as though he's had his bell rung and needs to undergo a concussion protocol. He gave no details about how the carbon pricing scheme would lead to recession and is he custom he did not take questions from reporters afterward. Hey, I won't confuse us with the facts, the sky is falling!
I don't know what's more pathetic, Premier Chicken Little serving up this unsubstantiated fear-mongering or those willing to pay good money to hear it. The response for economists was swift, with a number suggesting the Ford doesn't seem to know what a recession actually is, while other refuted his claim. Please note: these are ECONOMISTS, not the dreaded environmentalist who supposedly don't care about the economy.
We know that the economies of British Columbia and Quebec are actually doing just fine with a carbon tax and cap and trade, as is Ontario's former cap and trade partner California. We've been told that the decision to scrap cap and trade in Ontario will cost the government three billion dollars in revenue. There's a fiscally responsible move.
It becomes clearer and clearer that Mr. Ford is in way over his head when it comes to understanding the realities of cap and trade and a carbon tax (they are not the same, but he conflates the two.)
I am a Christian who cares about the economy. I want Ontarians, including my adult children and their partners to have meaningful work in a thriving province. I do know that the words economy and ecology have the same root in the notion of the oikos, the household. Please get our house in order, Premier Chicken Little.
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