Carbon Tax? Cap and Trade?

You may have heard that the passing of the Climate Change Accountability Act on June 4, 2008 made Canada the first country in the world to pass the climate act. The bill commits Canada to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 from 1990-levels. An interim target was also set to reduce GHG by 25 percent by 2020.
Bill C-377, however, was introduced by one of the federal opposition parties, the NDP. The challenge is for the Conservative government to lead and design a national strategy to reduce GHG emissions. A similar scenario is being played out in B.C.: Although the Liberal B.C. government introduced a carbon tax (effective July 1, 2008) the provincial NDP party is challenging that levy by proposing a cap and trade system — supported by industry who historically backed the B.C. Liberals.
Bill C-377 is an historical occasion for this country. But, it’s also brought forth puzzling issues for citizens in terms of who should pay and how much, carbon tax versus cap & trade, and which system is supported by industry (if at all) and why.
William Marsden, senior investigative reporter for the Montreal Gazette, gives a great snapshot of the pros & cons of both systems. Read the details carefully in his July 5th article, “Carbon Tax, Cap and Trade? What’s It All Mean?“, and it will likely make the picture clearer.
Marsden’s article is at: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=acc6dce3-804e-4bd1-a6c0-089bbcd6549d
Read his new book: Stupid to the Last Drop, finalist for the 2008 National Business Book Award – http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780676979138
Read about Bill C-377 at: http://www.parl.gc.ca/legisinfo/index.asp?Language=E&Chamber=N&StartList=A&EndList=Z&Session=15&Type=0&Scope=I&query=5175&List=toc-1