Canada, in a nutshell

[c9]

Tonight's news featured a report on an opinion survey around climate change and addressing the costs.

[a few questions showing Canadian support for protecting the planet, etc. Then...]

- most Canadians would be against a higher gas tax
- most Canadians would be against laws requiring them to not use their car one day per week
- most Canadians would be against a $10 charge to drive downtown
- most Canadians want Canada to live up to its Kyoto commitment

*sigh*

(for the Americans: this is a common theme in Canadian politics. We want it all, for cheap. Health care, cigarettes, booze, highways, transit, ... they're all the same to some portion of our brains. It's surreal.)

Comments

[joecdn.livejournal.com]

I read something similar in the media here that suggested that Canadians would be willing to pay more if it meant protecting the environment, but they'd like to see other taxes (such as the gas taxes) directed towards protecting the environment since vehicles, for example, are large contributors to global warming.

http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20070402_094851_1216

Anyways...in the case of gas taxes - I'd be against any increase in gas tax here in Vancouver, since we already pay through the nose. We pay 12 cents per litre to Translink (the regional transportation authority), in addition to any provincial or federal taxes that are levied on fuel - and they're trying to raise that to 15 cents per litre. Currently, our gas price is sitting at around $1.16 per litre, and when you compare that to Seattle, just to the south of us - they're only paying $0.94 per litre. I think we're paying enough...even Toronto is only paying about $1.00 per litre right now.

[c9.livejournal.com]

How much would you pay for a litre of bottled water?

[joecdn.livejournal.com]

Ummm....I dunno - but I'd definitely be willing to pay more for a bottle of water given the need to protect our natural resources. I just don't like the idea of being gouged for fuel - especially considering where they money goes for the most part (to greedy assholes like GW Bush).

[c9.livejournal.com]

I found a website you might find interesting -- Vancouver's definitely the highest!!

http://www.gasbuddy.com/GB_Price_List.aspx

Excerpt (today's prices):

Province	Price
Alberta	96.774
Manitoba	99.512
Ontario	102.543
Saskatchewan	102.929
New Brunswick	103.913
Quebec	105.540
British Columbia	107.138
PEI	111.843
Nova Scotia	113.091
Newfoundland	114.492

City	Price
Calgary	97.830
Edmonton	97.892
Winnipeg	100.236
Hamilton	101.057
Toronto	101.229
London	101.687
Regina	103.577
Saskatoon	103.653
Quebec City	108.400
Halifax	110.874
Montreal	113.388
Victoria	114.500
Vancouver	117.066

[zedinbed.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, vehicles contribute only 6% to greenhouse emission. Of course, that 6% too much but considering their utility, I think we can target other ways of reducing our emissions with better results.

My source for that weird statistic is the the NY Times article on the US Supreme Court's decision to ask the federal government to review their global warming policy.

[gueny.livejournal.com]

I read somewhere recently (I think it was this morning on the the cover of the Edmonton Journal), that most Canadians would be willing to pay a "green tax". I have no idea what this is, and I'm sure nobody else does either, hence probably the reason why they support it.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Toronto's talking about a new fee for garbage and recycling and compost collection, probably as a way to gather more money for the city's needs. Calgary tried this recently, and (shock!) it was voted down in a huge city-wide tempest.

Show people the tax, and they won't like it. Hide it, like the 11% tax that the GST replaced, and well...

[skeezix1000.livejournal.com]

To be fair, some of the proposed policies, like the $10 downtown toll, are extremely bad policy. But I'm sure that the people involved in this poll were answering more out of self-interest than on policy grounds...

[friendofjack.livejournal.com]

I don't think that is unique to Canadians. I think it's human nature. People will answer one way when a purely ideal question is presented and then answer another way when the specifics of how to implement that ideal are asked.

It makes sense. If I quizzed lots of people on whether or not they'd want 6-pack abs, I'd get an overwhelming "yes." If I followed up with questions about whether they wanted those killer abs through "diet" or "exercise," I'd get a much less enthusiastic response.

The 2nd and 3rd suggestions (no driving one day per week and a $10 fee to drive downtown) sound like really horrible ideas. There would be no better way to destroy a vibrant downtown than to charge a fee for going there. Businesses would flee the city for the suburbs in no time.