Dion may champion carbon tax

by Mike De Souza — May 12, 2008

OTTAWA - The idea was rejected 10 years ago by former prime minister Jean Chretien in the midst of his three consecutive majority governments, but Liberal leader Stephane Dion now appears to be banking on a carbon tax to help win the next election.

"It really goes back a long time ago," said Jack Mintz, a world-renowned fiscal and tax policy specialist. "Ten years ago for [former finance minister] Paul Martin, I chaired the technical committee on business taxation, and we had a whole chapter in there on environmental taxation and we suggested at that time as a commission to turn the federal fuel excise tax [on gasoline] into a broad-based environmental tax."

But Mr. Mintz, who now heads the University of Calgary's School of Policy Studies, said Mr. Chretien was never keen on accepting the environmental tax.

"At the time we couldn't use the word carbon," Mr. Mintz said with a chuckle. "Because the prime minister officially said there would be no carbon taxation in Canada."

Ten years later, Mr. Dion is publicly musing about introducing a carbon tax as a key plank of his platform to address both environmental and economic issues at the same time.

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Source:National Post News