Battery Plants

Volkswagen electric vehicle battery plant.

With a little help from the Conference Board of Canada, the Financial Post is offering a self-defeating straw man on the issue of government funding for battery plants. Here’s what they write: Picking battery plants to solve Canada’s productivity crisis ‘dangerous road,’ report says. Better approach would be to cut taxes and let markets find…

EV Charging

Charging cars at the streetside

The Canadian government has just passed legislation requiring that all new vehicles sold in Canada by 2035 be emissions-free, which for all practical purposes means that they must be electric. While this is not ideal (there should be much more of an emphasis on public transportation) it is necessary. Leaving aside the climate change sceptics…

The Carbon Tax

Pierre Poilievre protests the carbon tax while Alberta burns as a result of climate change

How do people feel about the carbon tax? 14 cents per litre of gasoline, about $5.60 extra per 40L tank. 17 cents per litre of diesel/furnace oil. The carbon tax is a ‘market solutions’ approach to climate change; by increasing the cost of carbon, it reduced the demand, and moves us away from carbon consumption….

Making Canada Better

Canadian flag and trees

This is a response to a thread on Reddit: What’s something that Canadians should work on in order to make Canada a better country? – we need to address the creeping privatization of public health care. Governments are underfunding the current system and using this as an excuse to extend private services. – housing is…

Gas Prices

Higher gas prices, declining oil prices

There has been a lot of talk about inflation, which I address in an other post, but for now I want to focus on gas prices. First, take a look at the illustration. Notice that even though oil prices are declining, gas prices are still rising. This is known as the ‘crack gap’ and exists…

The Jump

Indigenous activists on tackling the climate crisis: 'We have done more than any government' – video

Based on research carried out by academics at Leeds University a study asks people people to make The Jump and sign up to six pledges that “could account for a quarter of the emissions reductions required to keep the global heating down to 1.5C.” The six pledges are as follows: Eat a largely plant-based diet,…