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Carbon tax column rambling non-sense

This letter to the editor responds with disagreement to a recently run opinion column
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Dear Editor;

RE: Sales tax, or carbon tax, not novel in dumb political moves — Stu Salkeld; Ponoka News Aug. 16.

You attack the carbon tax and feel our government has wronged us by implementing it.

I live in Ponoka and hear people rambling non-sense like your article on a regular basis. Here is what I tell those people.

It is very comical to listen to the same ones screaming over the carbon tax, who also yelled and screamed at Rachel Notley during the royalty review.

Since she heeded all warnings against changing the royalty agreements, her government had to come up with a revenue stream that could help make up a potential $7 billion drop in revenue due to lower oil prices.

So in comes a carbon tax, which for your information, is not a sales tax.

By introducing this, the government is compelling people to change the amount paid based on how we run our homes and businesses. It is also addressing environmental concerns and inspiring alternatives to traditional non-renewable resources.

We will pay on one item consumed instead of on everything. This decision is a reasonable alternative, as opposed to the more drastic approaches other provinces used to stall their economy in tough times.

A stall is created by an increasing sales taxes on purchases and/or by cuts to all essential services like education, health care and infrastructure. The infrastructure projects in Alberta — that should have been addressed and paid for with our tax dollars during the high times — are currently having to be completed.

Those didn’t occur at the pace needed to match the growth, we were having during the boom. The current government decided to borrow during recessionary times to catch up on these and also keep Albertans working.

As a bonus, these projects will occur while paying lower construction prices due to fierce competition. Further, the carbon tax keeps us ahead of the federal carbon tax plan. Imagine the fraught Albertans would have with both a sales and a carbon tax?

This provincially developed plan has also given political headway to our desired pipelines.

Hopefully, this tax will buy the province time to stay the course, while finding other industries who may be able to flourish among lower oil prices. Whether you like it or not, energy conservation is an industry contributing to our GDP and is served by 1,000’s of Alberta businesses who have seen continued growth through challenging times.

A recent news report using facts, not opinions, compared provincial GDP growth and showed that Alberta, under the NDP, seems to be heading in the right direction.

B.C., another strong province, introduced a carbon tax a number of years ago and are heavily invested in the energy saving industry. They have not seen reductions in GDP growth, while implementing those types of strategies.

I’m happy to be an Albertan and okay living in a society that wants to promote environmentally healthy decisions.

It’s like explaining to a kid why math and spelling is important. They can’t always see the end game, but making them use their brain in that way is important in their development as a human being.

I think that forcing society to use their brain, regarding energy, is equally as beneficial as math and spelling. And, if it helps stabilize a revenue stream for the province at the same time, then it’s win win in my books.

Brendan Sherwin

Ponoka