Brison rolls out Liberals’ Green Shift strategy

By Kirk Starratt

kstarratt@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

The discussion was so green that the Wolfville and District Lion’s Hall seemed to glow neon Tuesday morning.

Kings-Hants MP Scott Brison was on hand to talk about the Liberals’ “Green Shift: Building a Canadian Economy for the 21st Century” strategy as the Eastern Kings Chamber of Commerce (EKCC) hosted “Breakfast with Brison”.

Brison said the principle behind the “Green Shift” is we can have a strong economy and a healthy environment. Although he has focused mainly on the economy in the past, Brison said he is now dealing with the economy and the environment together because they’re linked closely.

Some of the biggest companies in the world are going green, changing their business models out of a realization that they won’t be able to compete with a high carbon footprint.

“If you’re an environmental laggard today, you’ll be an economic laggard tomorrow,” he said. “The smartest money in the world is going green.”

He cited unprecedented growth in areas such as Brazil, India and China and the biggest challenge is how to find the energy the world needs while addressing climate change.

World is putting a price on carbon

Brison said we have to become a clean energy leader in Canada, working with stakeholders to develop alternative energy sources and cleaner conventional energy.

“The world is putting a price on carbon,” he said. “The notion that we can build economic growth in Canada on dirty energy sources is wrong.”

Brison said we haven’t had tax reform in Canada since 1971 and the global economy has changed drastically since then. We need to green the economy and the tax system. Brison said the Liberal strategy is a centrist policy and is about shifting taxes to what we want less of, including pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

In an economic slowdown, he said some of our “sunset” companies could produce “sunrise” industries, using the local example of Minas Basin Pulp and Power to illustrate the point. Instead of continuing to use trees to produce paper, Minas Basin has shifted to using recycled material.

When it comes to clean, renewable energy, Brison said we should be working to make Nova Scotia and Canada the best place in the world for research and development.

In terms of using the tax system to make the shift to green easier for families, Brison said there hasn’t been enough action federally and we’ve lost ground. However, some provinces are moving forward in the absence of federal leadership. The problem is, if every province moves forward with a different approach we will create further economic divisions.

Tax cuts designed to be progressive

He said, under the “Green Shift”, every dollar raised in pollution tax would be passed on to Canadians in the form of other tax cuts. The tax cuts are designed to be progressive and assist lower and middle income Canadians.

The average individual income in Kings-Hants is $23,000 per year. The tax shift would mean annual savings of $1,454 for a family of two each earning the average annaul income with two children. The revenue-neutral green tax would lead to tax cuts focused on building a fairer tax system, helping people get over the welfare wall that exists.

Brison said environmentalists and economists agree that the best way to cut greenhouse gas emissions is to tax carbon. Pricing at a wholesale level, the Liberal plan involves starting out with a $10 per tonne tax for carbon dioxide, increasing over a period to $40 per tonne.

He said as well if we want to have a serious discussion about alternative energy sources, we have to at least look at nuclear energy.

We have leadership at the municipal, provincial and federal levels when it comes to taking action on the environment and Brison said all should be working together.

To move ahead, we need structural economic change that goes beyond cyclical trends. We need a fundamental shift, he said. It’s about conservation, but it’s about innovation as well and using different types of energy. If we don’t move pre-emptively, we will be caught behind on the economic side.

Sustainable land use solution

Brison said he discussed several matters of local importance with the EKCC executive the previous week, including the initiative to have Grand-Pre named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They discussed the Kentville Agricultural Research Station and the importance of local agricultural research to the local industry. They discussed also the importance of continued investment in infrastructure, including the Highway 101 twinning project.

Although it isn’t federal jurisdiction, they discussed land use policy in Kings County. Brison said Kings County is at the centre of an important debate that will occur around the world in regard to land use and water issues. As we see the population grow and shift, he said there would be more conflict between traditional land uses such as agriculture and development and growth.

He said there are interesting and innovative solutions being discussed, including land banking, and this is important.

“We have the minds and the people and the businesses and the agricultural community that can shape a sustainable solution in Kings County,” Brison said.

EKCC President Greg Young said that when the chamber of commerce resumes activities in September, they would be jumping into the land use issue.

Other topics of discussion included the importance of Nova Scotia Power Incorporated shifting to green operations, the importance of a Maritime regional energy strategy and the Minas Basin tidal power project. The potential is there to harness enough energy for 141,000 homes from a renewable source currently going unused.