NDP ERODES CONFIDENCE
Environment Minister Shannon Phillips seems almost giddy about the amount of investment Alberta expects to attract through its climate change plan. “As soon as you price carbon, you open up investment opportunities that were not there previously,” Phillips said on the telephone from Morocco, where she is part of a 225-person Canadian delegation attending a UN climate conference.
Phillips seems to believe in some strange form of economic alchemy — that if you impose enough layers of taxes and then redistribute the proceeds as corporate welfare, the recipient companies will create tremendous wealth. The reality, of course, is that without subsidies, the companies would likely give renewable projects a miss, because there’s no money to be made.
It’s naive to portray renewable energy projects as a substitute for a proper economy, one where people willingly put their own money forward in the anticipation of turning a profit. You know, the kind of economy that exists in Calgary, where more than 5,500 businesses closed and another 5,900 moved during the first nine months of this year.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business’s Amber Ruddy says business owners are not only trying to weather the economic storm, but are being forced to contribute more of their cash flow to all three levels of government.
“Generally speaking, the business climate is not good right now and businesses are facing a number of challenges,” said Ruddy, citing minimum wage hikes, increasing corporate and property taxes and WCB premiums. “When you layer everything on, it becomes very difficult.”
Ruddy mentions the uncertainty the carbon tax, to be implemented in less than two months, presents to entrepreneurs.
The NDP has also raised doubts among the people who operate Alberta’s electric companies. They fear the government — which has already taken legal action against some firms because they used the carbon tax to wiggle out of their contracts — is poised to retroactively alter agreements signed 15 years ago.
“Who would ever invest in this province, if they thought the government would just invalidate their contract decades later?” asked Mayor Naheed Nenshi as the NDP seeks investors for renewable power contracts lasting 20 years.
The NDP wants to have its cake and to eat it, too. It wants to entice green investors using public money on one hand, and on the other, it appears willing to retroactively redraw agreements signed with other people who risked their capital.
It’s likely that plenty of tax dollars will flow in both directions, much to the chagrin of Albertans. The NDP isn’t likely to create jobs that could otherwise stand on their own — nor to instil confidence.