Link to original post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/lawsonp/2014/11/09/norways-solution/

Lawson’s post focuses on Canada’s lack of significant carbon taxation in spite of the fact that the Alberta oil sands contribute significantly to North American oil production and therefore, carbon emissions. Well Canada is certainly not on the right track in terms of hitting emissions targets for sustainable development, exemplified by Stephen Harper’s opposition to the Kyoto Accord. However, it is also important to consider that the Canadian oil industry contributes to a large part of the country’s GDP, as well as the potential harms of implementing a significant carbon tax. One major problem is that carbon taxation doesn’t just hurt the big polluters, such as the oil industry and large, high emission corporations: it hurts everyday Canadians as well. Carbon taxation is effectively an increase in cost of production for mass-polluting firms, and any significant tax would cause the operating costs of many of these firms, which employ millions of Canadians, to skyrocket. What is one of the most common methods of reducing cost? Laying off labourers. It is of necessity to note that while Norway and Canada, the two countries compared in Lawson’s post, are similar in that they are both major oil producers and different in that Norway imposes high carbon taxation and Canada does not, that Norway has an unemployment rate less than half of that of Canada’s, and that is including the fact that Norway has already implemented significant carbon taxation while Canada has not. Regardless of all the good that reinvesting carbon taxes can do in terms of social services, improving education, etc, it is important to consider the cons as well, and increased unemployment is definitely one worth noting.