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Let’s put aside for a moment the fact that whatever Ontario does will not make a great impact on the global situation. The province produces just 0.3 per cent of the world’s emissions and Ontario’s emissions per person are the second lowest in the country, after Quebec.

In a practical sense, that limits the province’s leverage and what might be accomplished, but the political approach to climate change is as much about being seen to do something as it is about actual achievement. In that regard, simply opposing a carbon tax is not a political winner.

Economists like to think of this approach as a nudge, but it's more like a kick in the pants

That’s not to say that criticizing a carbon tax is irrational. The effect of carbon taxes are muted by fluctuating gasoline prices and to meet Canada’s modest emissions targets, the tax would have to be 10 times as high as it is now. That’s never going to happen.

Instead, conservative politicians should focus on something achievable. There’s not much most can do to dramatically cut home heating emissions, but the cars we choose to drive present a ripe opportunity.

Canadian vehicles have the world’s highest average fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions per kilometre driven, according to a recent report by the International Energy Agency. Our vehicles are also the largest in the world. Now consider that transportation produces about 35 per cent of Ontario’s total emissions, about half of that from cars and light trucks.

Liberals believe the solution is a carbon tax, to punish people into choosing more fuel efficient rides. If the cost of gasoline gets really, really high, we’ll do something right? Economists like to think of this approach as a nudge, but it’s more like a kick in the pants.