Councillors Warn Liberals Green Shift Will Cost $3.5 million
Josh Pringle
Wednesday, October 1, 2008Two Ottawa City Councillors suggest the Liberals Green Shift plan would cost Ottawa taxpayers at least an additional $3.5 million.
In a letter to Liberal leader Stephane Dion, Doug Thompson and Glenn Brooks say preliminary research into the impact of a carbon tax on Ottawa's operating budget has "alarming results."
They claim the Liberals carbon tax would increase OC Transpo's diesel fuel bill by $2.74 million, and Ottawa's fleet vehicle budget by $791-thousand.
Thompson and Brooks ask Dion if he is prepared to amend the tax to mitigate the new costs that the Green Shift plan will impose on Ottawa's "already tight budget."
If this is the expected increase for one city alone, then the cost Canada-wide would be horrendous.
Lets do a little rough math.
The population of the City of Ottawa in 2006 was 865,553.
That works out to a per capita ammount of $4.04 in increased costs for City transportation and fleet vehicles. Seems like a modest amount, doesnt it?
Bear in mind that this doesn't factor in anything else, like heating of buildings, sewers, construction, etc. JUST fuel for city vehicles.
As a simple calculation, what does that work out to if all of Canada's urban population is factored in?
In 2006 the urban population of Canada was stated as being 81 percent of total, which factors out to 26,390,025 people. So how much would that end up costing municipalities?
$108 million...in extra fuel costs for fleet vehicles and public transportation expenses alone!!
This is only one small portion of the harm that the "Green Shift" plan will cause. Once farming, trucking, manufacturing, private construction, home heating, and fuel costs at the pump (to name a few) are factored in, the resulting damage to our economy will dwarf that number. How will Dion's $15 billion in revenue from the carbon tax help all the segments of the economy that are devastated?Your guess is as good as mine...
