By Andrew Coyne, Ottawa Citizen, October 7, 2016
Well, that escalated quickly. If there were ever any prospect of a civilized national debate about how to reduce Canada’s carbon emissions, it ended about five minutes after Justin Trudeau stood in the House of Commons Monday to announce what everyone already knew: that there would be a minimum national price on carbon, and that if the provinces did not impose such a price the federal government would do it for them.
The rhetoric since then from certain premiers and Tory leadership candidates has been so scandalized that you would think there was something either new or shocking in the announcement. But a $10-a-tonne carbon price starting in 2018, rising to $50 in 2022, is neither. BC is already charging $30; Alberta will be charging $20 as of Jan. 1, rising to $30 in 2018; Quebec and Ontario have cap-and-trade systems either in place or in the works worth roughly similar amoun
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