To the editor:
With the election of Trump to the presidency in the US, PM Trudeau has been under increasing pressure to ditch plans for a federal carbon tax. Thus far he has remained strong, claiming that a national green technology sector is a key part of a healthy Canadian economy. He’s right.
Globally, clean technology represents a multi-trillion dollar opportunity. Because of a lack of federal policies to incentivize investment between 2008 and 2015, such as a strong and transparent price on carbon, Canadian innovations were manufactured in China and sold back to Canada, with the majority of the jobs and profits staying in China, not in Canada. China is fast becoming a clean tech powerhouse, representing close to 40 per cent of growth globally.
So let’s leave the dinosaurs, like a Trump-led US, behind to wallow and sink in their tar pit. The PM should stick to his guns, move forward with clean-tech pioneers like China, Europe and India and invest in a renewables sector that will establish the jobs and manufacturing that come with being a world leader in the clean tech industry. A federal carbon price is an essential first step.
Paul Grace-Campbell, Kaslo
