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Economy

Canada’s current climate plan is ineffective and wasteful

Published

11 months ago

4 minute read

Article submitted by The MacDonald Laurier Institute

Alternative approaches will not only reduce emissions more efficiently but will provide socio-economic benefits beyond Green-House Gas mitigation.

OTTAWA, ON (June 27, 2023): The federal government has committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and has spent or committed over $113 billion in climate related initiatives. Yet, Canada will still likely miss its 2030 emissions target by 48 percent. The government risks heavily indebting Canadians without meeting its climate goals.

In this new MLI paper – Maximizing value, minimizing emissions: The cost-effective path for Canada’s climate agenda, Senior Fellow Jerome Gessaroli proposes a climate policy based on international collaboration that would be more cost-effective than policies the government has implemented to date.

“A marginal cost analysis of methane abatement projects shows that it is possible for Canada to reduce its GHG emissions in a more cost-effective way by looking further afield to other countries than by focusing only on domestic projects.”

According to Gessaroli, Canada, along with numerous other countries, has yet to tap into the potential benefits of international cooperation. By leveraging comparative advantages such as technologies, lower costs, and mitigation opportunities, countries can join forces to reduce GHG emissions beyond their territorial borders. Recognition and encouragement of emissions reductions resulting from international collaboration, as outlined in Article 6 of the 2015 Paris Agreement, can lead to more effective climate outcomes compared to domestic initiatives.

Of particular significance is Article 6.2, which allows countries to voluntarily collaborate on GHG emissions reduction and receive credit for reductions achieved outside their political boundaries. Canada can leverage Article 6.2 by engaging in cooperative arrangements with foreign countries to share costs or exchange technical capabilities for mitigation benefits. By doing so, Canada can reduce global emissions while receiving credit toward its formal climate targets under the Paris Agreement.

“The projects can lead to further international collaboration and partnerships in other areas,” writes Gessaroli.

“And depending upon the project, local benefits such as job creation, worker training, enhanced water quality, more efficient water usage, and greater agricultural productivity are possible extras over and above the emissions mitigation.”

Regrettably, the federal government appears to show limited interest in utilizing Article 6.2 to meet greenhouse gas emission goals. With a range of abatement technologies across multiple sectors, Canada possesses the means to facilitate substantial GHG emission reductions in other countries, thereby helping to meet our own climate objectives.

The report concludes by urging the federal government to rethink its climate spending priorities and prioritize policies that deliver the greatest GHG abatement outcomes at the lowest cost. By embracing international collaboration and actively pursuing cooperative climate initiatives, Canada can significantly contribute to global emissions reductions while simultaneously reaping socio-economic benefits.

To learn more, read the full paper here:

***

Jerome Gessaroli is a senior fellow with the Macdonald Laurier Institute. He writes on economic and environmental matters, from a market-based principles perspective. Jerome teaches full-time at the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s School of Business, courses in corporate finance, security analysis, and advanced finance. He was also a visiting lecturer at Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business, teaching into their undergraduate and executive MBA programs.

The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is the only non-partisan, independent national public policy think tank in Ottawa focusing on the full range of issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
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Economy

Canadians experiencing second-longest and third steepest decline in living standards in last 40 years

Published on May 17, 2024

By

From the Fraser Institute

From 2019 to 2023, Canadian living standards declined—and as of the end of 2023, the decline had not yet ended, finds a new study published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

“Despite claims to the contrary, living standards are declining in Canada,” said Grady Munro, policy analyst at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Changes in Per-Person GDP (Income): 1985 to 2023.

Specifically, from April 2019 to the end of 2023, inflation-adjusted per-person GDP, a broad measure of living standards, declined from $59,905 to $58,111 or by 3.0 per cent. This decline is exceeded only by the decline in 1989 to 1992 (-5.3 per cent) and 2008 to 2009 (-5.2 per cent). In other words, it’s the third-steepest decline in 40 years.

Moreover, the latest decline (which comprises 18 fiscal quarters) is already the second-longest in the last 40 years, surpassed only by the decline from 1989 to 1994 (which lasted 21 quarters). And if not stabilized in 2024, this decline could be the steepest and longest in four decades.

“The severity of the decline in living standards should be a wake-up call for policymakers across Canada to immediately enact fundamental policy reforms to help spur economic growth and productivity,” said Jason Clemens, study co-author and executive vice-president at the Fraser Institute.

  • Real GDP per person is a broad measure of incomes (and consequently living standards). This paper analyzes changes in quarterly per-person GDP, adjusted for inflation from 1985 through to the end of 2023, the most recent data available at the time of writing.
  • The study assesses the length (number of quarters) as well the percentage decline and the length of time required to recover the income lost during the decline.
  • Over the period covered (1985 to 2023), Canada experienced nine periods of decline and recovery in real GDP per person.
  • Of those nine periods, three (Q2 1989 to Q3 1994, Q3 2008 to Q4 2011, and Q2 2019 to Q2 2022) were most severe when comparing the length and depth of the declines along with number of quarters required for real GDP per person to recover.
  • The experience following Q2 2019 is unlike any decline and recovery since 1985 because, though per person GDP recovered for one quarter in Q2 2022, it immediately began declining again and by Q4 2023 remains below the level in Q2 2019.
  • This lack of meaningful recovery suggests that since mid-2019, Canada has experienced one of the longest and deepest declines in real GDP per person since 1985, exceeded only by the decline and recovery from Q2 1989 to Q3 1994.
  • If per-capita GDP does not recover in 2024, this period may be the longest and largest decline in per-person GDP over the last four decades.

Adobe PDF Read the Full Report

Authors:

Grady Munro
Policy Analyst, Fraser Institute
Jason Clemens
Executive Vice President, Fraser Institute
Milagros Palacios
Director, Addington Centre for Measurement, Fraser Institute

 

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Economy

Feds spend $3 million to fly 182 politicians and bureaucrats to climate conference

Published on May 17, 2024

By

From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

Author: Ryan Thorpe 

Feds trip to COP28 in Dubai cost $3 million

The cost for Canada to send hundreds of people to COP28 in Dubai has doubled, rising to nearly $3 million, according to government records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Included in those costs is $1.3 million the federal government dished out to host a “Canada Pavilion” at the summit, which featured a rapper performing a song on “climate disinformation,” while giving a shoutout to Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.

“Nothing screams fighting climate change like flying around the world burning through jet fuel and millions of tax dollars,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Here’s a crazy idea: maybe the feds don’t need to spend $3 million flying 182 politicians and bureaucrats to Dubai.”

The federal government paid for at least 182 people to go to COP28, held from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

A previous report from the National Post pegged the cost for Canada’s delegation at $1.4 million.

But the bill now sits at $2,954,188, including $825,466 for transportation, $472,570 for accommodations and $295,455 for meals and incidentals, according to the records.

The records indicate the cost could rise even higher, as certain invoices and travel claims “have yet to be processed.”

Costs included $1.3 million for a “Canada Pavilion” to “showcase the breadth of Canadian climate leadership.”

At the Canada Pavilion, a Canadian rapper known as Baba Brinkman – the son of Liberal MP Joyce Murray – performed a rap on “climate disinformation.”

“Climate disinformation, get that immunization, the vaccine for bad meme infiltration,” Brinkman rapped. “Climate misinformation, it leads to polarization, which leads to radical conspiracy ideation.”

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault also received a shoutout during Brinkman’s rap.

“Really? Hosting a rapper half-way around the world to drop rhymes at a government podium will help the environment?” Terrazzano said.

The records were released in response to an order paper question from Conservative MP Dan Mazier (Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa).

Most of the hotel expenses came from the Dubai Marriott and the Premier Inn at the Dubai Investment Park, with rooms coming in between $150 and $400 per night.

The most expensive digs was a $816-per-night suite at the Pullman Dubai Jumeriah Lakes Towers, a “five-star hotel offering upscale accommodations.”

The Canadian delegation also handed out $650 worth of gifts during the trip.

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