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Alberta (soon), Sask., Manitoba, Ontario, even some Liberal-led provinces in the East: Trudeau’s dream of a carbon tax is dead, pretty much. Will McKenna now take the fall in the coming shuffle? #cdnpoli — Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) July 17, 2018

Prince Edward Island’s government also announced this month that it was out. And Newfoundland and Labrador is assumed to be exiting, too, since it had sent signals it would do whatever Ontario did.

According to AxetheCarbonTax.ca, once just one province (Saskatchewan) was opposed, now three are openly opposed, another two (New Brunswick and Newfoundland) are teetering and Manitoba is half in, half out.

If, as expected, the United Conservatives drive the NDP from office in Alberta next spring, by next summer seven of 10 provinces could be out. Only Quebec, B.C. and Nova Scotia would remain in the Trudeau camp.

Also, about two-thirds of Canadian voters are opposed, too.

So why does the Trudeau government remain so committed to the carbon tax, not to mention environmental assessment rules that make future pipelines and energy projects all but impossible?

The answer is the Trudeauites are driven by equal parts stubbornness, naiveté and zeal.

No matter how much proof is offered that their proposals will not achieve environmental improvement, the Liberals push on. Indeed, opposition encourages them to push even harder.

That’s their stubbornness — the same “green” stubbornness that motivated former Ontario premiers Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne and caused them to drive up electricity rates and provincial debt in Ontario to the highest levels on the continent.

The naiveté is obvious, too. Not only are the federal Liberals’ committed to their carbon tax, but equally to their new environmental regulations that make pipeline builders responsible for all the emissions from the oil they carry (even the emissions before the oil gets in their pipe and the emissions after it has exited). The Libs still love the Paris climate accord, too, even though that commitment has helped drive tens of billions of dollars away from Canada’s economy, while achieving nothing environmentally.