Wildrose, the main opposition party in Canada’s Alberta province, apologized Friday for comparing the majority National Democratic Party’s (NDP) carbon tax policy to the Ukrainian genocide in the 1930s that killed millions of people from a famine caused by Soviet agricultural policies.
The comparison was made in a post on Wildrose legislative assemblymember Rick Strankman’s blog, which has since been deleted. Canadian news outlets quote the post, titled “How much is too much?” as having said:
[American economist and author Thomas] Sowell points out how the early settlers to North America considered all lands common property with no incentive for an individual to produce… The same situation existed in Russia during the 1930s resulting in the starvation of nearly six million people that lived on the most fertile land on the planet.
The Alberta government’s carbon tax in its current form will not and can not [sic] create incentive for anyone exporting products outside of Alberta.
The province’s economic development minister, Deron Bilous, who is of Ukrainian descent, said he was “offended” by the “absurd” comments. He noted that members of the province’s 300,000-strong Ukrainian community are either survivors of the atrocity — known as the Holodomor — or descendants of those who suffered. The 1932–1933 failure of collective farming policy in Ukraine resulted in between 3 and 7 million deaths.
The party issued an apology on Friday, saying in a statement that: “The Holodomor was an atrocious and intentional act that saw the deaths of millions upon millions of Ukrainians.”
“Any interpretation of the column collaborated on by the nine Wildrose MLAs as dismissing the Holodomor as a horrendous act was completely unintentional, and we unreservedly apologize,” the statement read. “Out of an abundance of caution and respect for Ukrainian Albertans, the post was removed and a revised version has been posted.”
The Wildrose party has a history of controversy. Last year, party leader Brian Jean rejected the consensus that tar sands oil is dirtier than other fuels. Two months ago, Strankman caught fire for questioning the science of climate change in a meeting with Economic Development Minister Bilous. In response, the Environment Minister pointed out that half a dozen Wildrose members ran on a platform of rejecting the science.
Climate denial is still political suicide in Canada.
In 2015, the liberal NDP shocked many observers by defeating the Conservative majority which had run Alberta for the previous 44 years. The result was a surprise, as Alberta is sometimes referred to as “the Texas of Canada.” Now-Premier Rachel Notley won with the expectation that her party would do more about climate change and to diversify the economy than their predecessors — though there was some uncertainty among climate advocates as to how much. Notley promised to work “collaboratively” with industry to come up with new climate policy.
Late last year, Notley lived up to those expectations by announcing a climate plan that included limits on fossil fuel usage and carbon pollution from tar sands, pledged to phase out coal by 2030, and imposed a carbon tax. A vote to pass the legislation is expected this week.
Alberta’s carbon tax will go into effect in January, placing a small surcharge on fuels that emit greenhouse gases and refunding the money to families and businesses who take action to cut their emissions. Specifically, it places a $20 per ton tax on carbon emissions beginning in 2017, increasing to $30 per ton in January of 2018. The climate plan rewards efficient tar sands producers and penalizes wasteful, polluting ones — though does not take steps to shut down the industry.
Canada as a whole is turning over a new leaf on climate with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s rise to power this year following Notley’s win in Alberta last year.
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Alberta is ground zero for Canada’s tar sands industry, which has caused horrible air pollution, increased deforestation, and seriously hampered Canada’s response to climate change. Tar sands oil is controversial because the thick, gooey crude is mixed with sand and bitumen, which requires unconventional extraction techniques — such as pumping superheated steam into the ground. This increases the carbon pollution the fuel causes beyond that of other fossil fuels.
In the past, Wildrose has called the NDP’s climate plan a “tax on everything.” The party’s leader, Brian Jean, said “this new carbon tax will make almost every single Alberta family poorer.”
Jean was one of the 20 percent of Ft. McMurray residents who lost their homes from the raging wildfire that tore across the oil patch city and other parts of northern Alberta last month.
Alberta has experienced climate-related dry conditions since at least last year — with tar sands operators catching flak for taking too much water. Last month, the province declared a state of emergency as an enormous, damaging wildfire tore across 1.4 million acres and destroyed thousands of structures.
For Canada as a whole to take climate change seriously and rein in emissions, Alberta is priority number one.
Alberta has had a carbon scheme in place for very large sources of pollution since 2007 — yet in 2015 the province emitted more CO2 than Ontario and Quebec combined.
Energy development — tar sands extraction — is a big reason why.
A 2015 study found that Canada could go to 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. In order to accomplish this, the report recommended a nationwide price on carbon.
Albertans concerned about a carbon tax can look to their western neighbors: British Columbia has had a carbon tax in place for almost a decade and it has been working great for them. It’s cut fuel usage drastically with negligible negative effects on the economy. In fact, the tax has been so successful that this year over a hundred businesses asked the government to increase it by $10 per metric ton.
Update:
On Tuesday, the provincial government voted 42–39 to pass the legislation bringing into existence the climate strategy. In addition to the carbon tax, it drops the small business tax rate from 3 to 2 percent and establishes a clean energy funding agency.
It takes effect on January 1 of 2017, and residents can expect almost a five cent increase in gasoline prices and enough of an increase in heating bills to spend an extra $443 in 2017. Government estimates say that all but the richest one-third of Albertans will receive partial or full rebates for the added costs.
“I’m extremely proud of this piece of legislation and extremely proud of this government’s climate leadership plan,” Premier Rachel Notley said just before passage.
“Action by this government with respect to climate change is one that is long, long, long overdue in this province.”
Every member of the Wildrose party voted in opposition.