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And it might come as an absolute shock that David Swann, the lone Liberal MLA in the legislature, voted against Bill 20, too.

Liberal leader Swann, an environmental champion who has spent years fighting for a climate change plan that includes a carbon tax, complained that the NDP plan comes with too many unanswered questions.

“The government has essentially given itself no goals and no measures to which they can be held accountable,” said Swann. “Even our proposed amendment requiring the auditor general to review the program after two years was voted down by the NDP.”

It’s certainly easy to dismiss complaints against a carbon tax if the opposition is motivated by an ill-informed belief that man-made climate change is a deliberate hoax or a naive theory — and you have to wonder if that’s what’s going through the minds of some opposition members based on recent comments and/or re-tweets.

But the complaints are much more difficult to ignore if they come from well-informed and well-meaning critics who worry about the unintended consequences of a tax that will collect $9 billion over five years.

Premier Rachel Notley insists the new law comes with plenty of checks and balances. But it also comes with plenty of questions, including what green-energy programs will be supported by the tax revenue? And will we have to wait 14 years to see a real drop in greenhouse gas emissions?

And perhaps the biggest question of all, one that no one can answer right now: will the tax help improve Alberta’s environmental reputation and give us the “social licence” to get more pipelines built?