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Carbon Tax Too Little, Too Late

Posted by: Michael Dudley

12 September 2008 - 8:00am

With a federal election now underway in Canada, the focus should be on new, green infrastructure, not a national carbon tax, argues Tom Kent.

"A carbon tax will be hotly debated [in this election]; but to make it the centrepiece of an election platform is to ignore the troubles of Canadians.

The need is for public investment. It is to undertake infrastructure projects that green the economy, that strengthen it, and that employ people now.

One major need is to create a power grid linking Canada's energy resources from sea to sea. Quebec's and Manitoba's hydro could quickly relieve Ontario's energy shortage. [M]uch can be done to shift freight traffic [to rail] and, incidentally, improve passenger service. There are many sections of line across Canada where an additional track could be laid on the existing right of way.

This is the time for capital investments. The sooner they're made, the sooner a carbon tax will be appropriate in a stronger economy."

Full Story: Let's think modern infrastructure, not carbon tax
Source: The Globe and Mail, September 8, 2008
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The areas where we have severe blight and indications of more blight to come are basically the same as they ever were. How in the world are we ever going to move our community development selves into an alternative future that thinks differently about the challenges we face in our cities and low-income suburban and rural communities?
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