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Some Canadians, their hair on fire, are terrified about the terrible things an appalling Donald Trump might do to his country and the world. They need grief counselling.
A more balanced perspective, and one of direct relevance to Canada, is that the president-elect is likely to implement several platform promises that advance America’s national interest, but which could seriously impact our country. Their implications relate to the viability of a national carbon tax, fiscal policy and funding for our military.
Canada can, and should, respond in a way that protects our own national interests. The big question is whether the necessary response will prove too difficult for the Trudeau government to swallow.
The Liberal mantra has been that Canada must impose a carbon tax to meet our climate-change obligations, even though there was never a chance the U.S. would do the same under President Barack Obama or even under a Clinton presidency. Since Trump’s election, questions are finally being raised whether a Canadian carbon tax can be justified, especially one that is not guaranteed to be revenue neutral. It cannot be.
We have all heard the justifications used to champion a national carbon tax. Canada, we’ve been told, must do something because it will make a difference. It will not. Our 1.6 per cent of global emissions is a tiny part of an international effort that hopes, in total, to reduce global temperature by half-a-degree Celsius by 2100, provided every country improbably does its share.
For the rest of this column, click here: http://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/joe-oliver-the-liberals-must-adapt-to-trump-but-theyll-need-to-abandon-their-low-carbon-high-tax-ideology-first