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Carbon Trust is so much hot air

letter to the editor from Jim Lamberton, the Rambling Man, Clearwater BC

To the editor;

Re: Climate Action As Leadership:  The View From B. C.

Let us just start by saying this is not the view from B.C. but the view from the B.C. Liberal Party!

This Pacific Carbon Trust scheme was part of Gordon Campbell’s  climate change program resulting from a few good pool parties with California’s Governor, Arnie, over a couple of bottles of good bourbon! This is the same premier who had a criminal charge for impaired driving and then, two years later, reduced B.C. drivers’ legal limit of alcohol consumption from .08 to .05 per cent blood alcohol

The final nail in Gordy’s coffin was trying to sneak in the HST. This was a great smokescreen to take the taxpayers’ minds off of the selling of B.C. Rail so Christy Clark could beat a hasty retreat and therefore people wouldn’t think she had anything to do with that sale. Campbell’s failed efforts with the HST were rewarded with a posting as Canada’s Ambassador to England.  Rumour has it he also has a job advising producers of a sit com with ideas for future episodes of “Yes Minister”. All that turmoil has left Terry Lake continuing with the carbon trust boondoggle and trying to convince this provinces’s taxpayers that the Liberal Government is doing the right thing.

I think that the statement Terry Lake made regarding the Auditor General (that he was not qualified to make those decisions) demonstrates how much Terry has outgrown his shoes. Make no mistake ... the majority of taxpayers know that these so-called scientists he refers to are also lobbyists, some paid by the government to make enough noise to get ideas adopted.

I get a real kick out of the ignorance of politicians babbling about climate change. It’s almost as though they have reinvented the wheel. Where have you been? Climate change has been going on for millions of years. Don’t think you’re going to change that. If you think human carbon emission is the contributing factor, find an alternative. Taxing people to the point of starvation is not the answer. The carbon tax on fuel is a good example. Terry Lake seems to think that’s carbon neutral. As soon as that tax was implemented, bus and ferry fares went up and the cost of transported produce also increased. Even good old BC Hydro decided they need a five per cent increase which they call a Rate Rider to take care of unforeseen expenses such as the increased price of fuel. And, yes, we pay GST on that too!

Here is a kicker! In 2011 alone, B.C. universities paid $4, 460,000 to the Carbon Trust. B.C. school districts paid $5,360,000 and the health authorities paid $5,790,000. This is all taxpayers’ dollars, all money well spent for corporations like Encana’s Flare Reduction Program, and organizations like the Nature Conservatory of Canada, or better yet the Great Bear Carbon Credit Limited Partnership. This looks to me like another way of buying votes!

Closer to home … Clearwater Council just bought l85 tonnes of carbon offsets at $25 per tonne. The total is $4,625 minus the provincial government rebate of $4,147. The balance is $478. It sounds to me like one government is selling another a lot of hot air!

In closing, I pose two serious questions to Terry Lake: what is the salary (including expenses and bonuses) of the CEO of our newly formed Pacific Carbon Trust? How many junior staff have annual salaries over $100,000? If this is your idea of job creation, maybe you should concentrate on photo opps for roundabouts on major highways.

Jim Lamberton

The Rambling Man

 

Clearwater, B.C.