Question: When is a Carbon Tax just a Tax? Answer: When coal-fired power plants are almost completely exempt. NB Power’s Belledune generating station burns a combination of coal and petroleum coke. Trudeau just gave Belledune an exemption to produce 800 tonnes of GHGs for free. So, Belledune will pay only $0.91 per tonne of greenhouse […]
Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions Without A Carbon Tax – James Aylward
James Aylward has announced that a PC government under his leadership will oppose a carbon tax, and use a variety of other initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on PEI. Why is a carbon tax a bad idea? A carbon tax most likely will not result in a significant decrease in GHG emissions. Will […]
Public Account Work Plan 2018
As the new chair of the Public Accounts standing committee it was great to finally have our work plan meeting. I had been working with the clerk to schedule it since before Christmas but it was delayed due to unavailability of government members. Here is a summary of the meeting. Full records of the meeting […]
Kombucha – Allow Islanders to Buy Local!
The Guardian just reported that locally-made Kombucha from Heartbeet Organics has been banned from sale in restaurants while at the same time imported Kombucha is available for purchase in grocery stores. http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/news/local/teresa-wright-kombucha-crackdown-180995/ Another case where government not only doesn’t encourage buying local products but actively deters this (provincial protein tender is another – they specify […]
Liveable Income on PEI?
I recently posted the following job in North Rustico to Facebook, and it started a discussion about liveable income on PEI: Cook wanted – Casual Full-Time Year-Round $14/hour – 12 hour shifts – 3 days on / 3 days off rotating The question was posed to me, “Is this a liveable income on PEI?” My […]
Need Tax Help? It’s Available
Taxes are complicated – too complicated – and government needs to work to simplify them. Implementing a Basic Income Guarantee and raising the basic personal tax amount may help – but that’s another discussion. In the mean time a lot people, especially low-income Islanders, don’t file their taxes and miss out on money available to […]
Raise Personal Tax Exemption – Offset Carbon Tax
Raising the basic personal tax exemption amount may be a good way to give back any extra carbon tax collected. For example, increase it by $1,250 each year starting in 2018 to go from $8000 now to $14,250 in 2022 – ending with a savings of $613 for every taxpayer, every year. Why is spending the carbon […]
Home Energy Audits
Did you know that the PEI government will pay half the cost of a home energy audit for your home? It costs $300 and they will pay $150. Just contact HouseMaster Inspection Services to book your home evaluation. Find out all the details on the PEI government website by clicking here. PEI Home Energy Audit […]
Will UPEI reduce pensions?
Rumours are out that UPEI will reduce pensions by using something other than the best 3 years of wages as the basis for pension payments. Those receiving pensions from UPEI have planned their retirement around the existing pension amounts, and it is unfair and wrong to make these sort of changes.
PEI Still Needs an Infrastructure Summit
In the Fall 2015 sitting of the PEI legislature I moved Motion #46 that Prince Edward Island hold a formal Infrastructure Summit. The purpose of such an infrastructure summit would be to bring together representatives of local governments, industry, environmental groups, and community organizations to identify projects that could make our infrastructure more sustainable environmentally and enable […]