We are now a month into the new year, and that means a month of already living with the ludicrous NDP carbon tax, which, at a 50 per cent increase, is the largest tax hike in provincial history.
Since the NDP first launched the carbon tax in 2015 it has become harder to find anyone to praise the party’s move, as it continues to provide undue hardship on practically every sector of the province.
It has been said by multiple sources that the NDP made no mention of the carbon tax during its campaign, which is not a surprise, as anteing up any whisper of the money-grabbing, ill-thought plan would have been a surefire way to self-implode the party’s dreams of getting elected.
With anger, concerns and tension growing across the province, the best thing the premier and other politicians in support of the levy could do would be to place some sort of a stop order on the act that is siphoning money directly from the wallets of hardworking Albertans.
In a 2015 video interview Premier Rachel Notley was asked directly about the party’s lack of information on the carbon tax during the election, and her response was nothing short of willfully obstinate and vague in an attempt to downplay the manipulativeness.
“I think it was always understood that looking at whether we had an appropriate carbon price was absolutely one of the things that would be a part of the climate change strategy.”
So, apparently now Albertans are mind-readers, able to deftly deduce how exactly the NDP would attack the people of the province and one of Alberta’s largest industries with no responsible counter-net in place.
It’s a fact, coal and other non-renewable resources will not be a sustainable industry forever. Alberta will need to diversify. However, this needs to be done responsibly, with appropriate timelines in place, and not on the backs of hardworking Albertans while those in charge outsource outcomes of the program.
To get cliché for a moment, Rome was not built in a day and a new green Alberta cannot be achieved overnight.
One of the lines the NDP has used to support its levy was that it is meant to encourage Albertans to decrease their emission footprint. However, household budgets can only be stripped so bare, and re-oufitting operations, especially with non-traditional technologies is not cheap.
Before it is too late—before the 2019 provincial election—the party would openly and without bias take a step back and remember who will be voting in the next election.
Amelia Naismith is the reporter for the Pipestone Flyer and writes a regular column for the paper.