The current carbon tax debate is important — it's just not serious

Thirty-five summers ago, the late Brian Mulroney opened the world conference on a changing atmosphere in Toronto. Its participants gathered there to discuss the existing threats of acid rain and ozone depletion. It was also one of the first major international conferences organized to discuss the emerging threat of global warming.

"It is with genuine pleasure that I welcome you to this historic conference," Mulroney said. "Over 350 experts from over 40 countries, you are gathered here to address the global threat to the earth's atmosphere."

A few days later, the conference produced a statement that began with an alarming declaration: "Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment whose ultimate consequences could be second only to a global nuclear war."

Last summer, Canada experienced the worst wildfire season in its recorded history — a summer which saw more than 15 million hectares of forest burned. For a few days in June, Parliament itself was shrouded in smoke.

Nine months later, the government operations committee of the House of Commons met to hear from Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, whose government is proudly defying the federal carbon-pricing law.

Officially, the meeting was being held to study a section of the main estimates — the initial spending allocations the government lays before Parliament each spring — for a dozen federal agencies and departments. Moe was not there to talk about any of that. Instead, he appeared by remote video so he could restate his opposition to the federal carbon tax.

Moe, along with a few other premiers, had written recently to the House finance committee requesting time. They apparently received no response. So the chair of the government operations committee, Conservative MP Kelly McCauley, apparently made a unilateral decision to schedule a meeting and invite Moe, along with New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.

It's probably not a coincidence that McCauley extended these odd invitations in the midst of his own party's "axe the tax" campaign.

"I think this is an important conversation for each of us as elected members," Moe said after the Liberal and Bloc Quebecois members of the committee spent nearly 20 minutes questioning why they were there.

There are important issues to discuss, no doubt. Whether they're being discussed with any seriousness is another matter entirely.

Moe's views on the carbon tax — and various other federal climate policies — are long-standing and well known. But Wednesday's meeting offered another opportunity to consider them at length.

Near the end of his opening remarks, the premier said the carbon tax is "showing no measurable impact when it comes to reducing emissions." In fact, the Canadian Climate Institute now estimates that in 2030, the consumer fuel charge will be responsible for reducing annual emissions by somewhere between 19 and 22 megatonnes.

To put that in perspective, that's roughly equivalent to the total emissions produced in the province of Manitoba in 2021. And if Manitoba disappeared tomorrow, its absence probably would be noticed.

Insisting there was "another way," Moe then referred to Article 6 of the Paris climate accord and suggested Canada could somehow get credit for exporting clean technologies to other countries.