Climate; Tarsands; Tax-breaks to oil/gas and rich; Cars/bikes

[angela bischoff]

 THE NATURE OF THINGS
(Thursday November 22 at 8pm on CBC-TV)
CLIMATE CHANGE: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

Now that climate change is an accepted, if inconvenient, truth, how are
we coping? David Suzuki takes a first-hand look at how climate change is
affecting Canadians where it really hurts: in their ability to make a
living.
What will all this really mean for workers, for Canada's sovereignty,
for traditional cultures and for our already fragile environment? Does
it all add up to an uncertain future?
http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/climatechange.html

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Tarsands -- the world's largest industrial project -- is now underway --
not in China, not in the Middle East, but in the Great White North,
Canada.  One hundred billion dollars is expected to be spent in the next
15 years in Alberta to exploit the dirtiest energy on the planet -- the
tarsands. It will ensure we don't meet our Kyoto obligations among other
things. Imagine if that $100 billion was spent on renewables instead!

The Dominion, Canada's national indy-media cooperative, has produced a
superb 48-page special issue on the tarsands. Read it here:
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/tarsands      

If you're in Edm, catch the Tarsands conference called "Everyone's
Downstream: Tarsands Realities and Resistance" at:
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
November 23-25th, 2007
http://oilsandstruth.org/conf

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Issue #48 of Carfree Times is now available at:

http://www.carfree.com/cft/i048.html

This issue includes many News Bits and Hot Links.

A mention of the excellent _Visualizing Density_ from the Lincoln
Institute of Land Policy is included, as is a brief review of a
new DVD, "The Myths of Biofuels," which may want to see if you
still think biofuels are a solution to anything.

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Amsterdam, Holland tests a Green Wave scheme for cyclists on
Raadhuisstraat. Cyclists riding between 15 and 18 kmph do not have to
stop at red lights.
http://www.nieuwsuitamsterdam.nl/English/2007/11/green_wave.htm

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Groups challenge billions in subsidies for Canada's oil and gas companies
November 14, 2007
http://www.ecojustice.ca/m_archive/pr07_11_14.html

TORONTO - Church and environmental groups today called on the federal
government to justify giving billions of dollars in tax breaks to Canada's
oil and gas corporations, while having scrapped a key climate change
program designed to assist low-income Canadians.

In formal petitions filed with Canada's Auditor General the groups also
demanded that the government publicly respond to the obvious contradiction
between subsidies that encourage fossil fuel production and spending on
measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). <snip>

Between 1996 and 2002 the federal government spent approximately $8
billion on tax subsidies for Canada's oil and gas industries. The groups
want the government to provide current figures, given the huge increase in
tar sands developments.

"We know from experience and UN reports that climate change impacts like
hurricanes, drought and heat waves harm poor people first, and most
seriously," said Paul Hansen, KAIROS Board Chairperson. <snip>

Soon after coming to power in 2006, the Harper government abruptly
eliminated the $500 million EnerGuide Program for Low Income Households,
designed to help vulnerable Canadians reduce energy bills - and GHG
emissions. Meanwhile, much of the approximately $1.4 billion in annual tax
breaks to the oil and gas industry will continue until at least 2015, long
after the first Kyoto Protocol period ends.

As well, corporate tax cuts announced just last month will start kicking
in next year while the phase out for just one of the many tax breaks to
oil and gas (the Accelerated Capital Cost Allowance) will take eight
years.

Tax breaks to the oil industry also far outweigh the $960 million that
will be spent on renewable energy and energy efficiency programs in
2007-08. The Harper government, however, continues to claim it cannot meet
its Kyoto commitments because of the cost. <snip>

To download a copy of the petition, click here (120 kb pdf file).
http://www.ecojustice.ca/reports/oil.gas.AG.petition.Nov.14.2007.pdf

For more info, Albert Koehl <albertkoehl at sympatico.ca>, EcoJustice

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Canada’s Rich Not Contributing Fair Share in Taxes: Study
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/News/2007/11/PressRelease1751/

More than a decade’s worth of tax cuts have disproportionately lined the
pockets of Canada’s most affluent families, says a new tax study by the
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

The study finds the top 1 percent of families in 2005 paid a lower total
tax rate than the bottom 10 percent of families.

“Canada’s tax system now fails a basic test of fairness,” says Marc Lee,
senior economist with the CCPA’s B.C. office and author of the study. “Tax
cuts have contributed to a slow and steady shift to a less progressive tax
system in Canada.”

The study, Eroding Tax Fairness: Tax Incidence in Canada, 1990 to 2005, is
available at:
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/National_Office_Pubs/2007/Eroding_Tax_Fairness_web.pdf

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