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A new report from Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, a self-appointed group of economists with a passionate interest in climate change, purports to fill the information gap, but it doesn’t try very hard.

The economists argue that the climate change debate must be based on facts, a reasonable proposition. They then go on to explore 10 popular arguments against carbon taxes and describe them as “myths,” always a sure sign of an even-handed approach. Try as they might, the economists can’t find a single valid criticism of carbon taxes.

The carbon tax is not a cash grab, the commission assures us, because government will rebate 90 per cent of the money to families and spend the rest on environmental stuff. It fails to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars in HST on the carbon tax, which the government will keep. It also fails to consider the concerns of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which has pointed out the small businesses, municipalities, universities, school boards and hospitals will pay almost 50 per cent of carbon tax costs, but get back only seven per cent as rebates and grants.

The economists say businesses won’t pass on carbon tax costs because “businesses are always looking for ways to make their products less expensive.” Someone please tell Enbridge.

British Columbia, which has had a carbon tax for a decade, is presented as a shining example of the tax’s merits. The report fails to mention that B.C. has abandoned revenue neutrality, and now uses the tax as just another source of government revenue. We are also told that the B.C. tax created jobs in health care and improved fuel economy.

Here’s the funny part about this raging carbon tax debate. The tax itself contributes only 15 to 20 per cent of the federal emissions reduction program. The rest is regulation and incentives, pretty much the same stuff Ontario is proposing.

The two sides of this political debate are much closer than we are led to believe. A little less smug condescension from carbon tax proponents and a little less overreaction from its opponents, and we’d be getting somewhere.

Randall Denley is an Ottawa political commentator and former Ontario PC candidate. Contact him at randalldenley1@gmail.com