How Automation is Driving Efficiency Through the Last Mile of Reporting
Art of taxing Pollution| Canada | Environment|
1. Art of Taxing Pollution -
Canada
Paul Young CPA, CGA
May 7, 2019
2. Paul Young - Bio
• CPA, CGA
• Academia (PF1, FA4 and MS2)
• SME – Risk Management
• SME – Close, Consolidate and
Reporting
• SME – Public Policy
• SME – Financial Solutions
• SME – Supply Chain Management
Contact information:
Paul_Young_CGA@Hotmail.com
3. Overview
• This presentation discusses air quality. Too much doom and gloom is spread about air pollution and not enough is said on actions done by countries like Canada and USA for the
past 25+ years to improve air quality in their various countries
• Carbon tax/price does not reduce emissions - https://drinkingwateradvisor.com/2018/04/11/a-carbon-tax-has-a-proven-track-record-it-does-not-achieve-the-promised-results/
• Carbon Tax are not revenue neutral - https://www.taxpayer.com/commentaries/bc-carbon-tax-not-revenue-neutral-anymore-27652
• Carbon Tax and GDP - https://ipolitics.ca/2018/04/23/pbo-says-carbon-tax-will-knock-10-billion-off-gdp-by-2022/
• Gore, Suzuki as well as others blame climate change on man-made issues as way to push their own agenda. The fact is climate always changes. If you do not need to take my word,
but you should listen to skeptics. These same skeptics are not funded by government - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9eQNZu9Sog
• Earth has become greener - https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/carbon-dioxide-fertilization-greening-earth
• Many scientists are speaking out that Climate Change is not related to man-made actions - https://principia-scientific.org/father-of-global-warming-scientist-finally-admits-theory-
is-wrong/ or https://www.iceagenow.info/leading-japanese-scientist-calls-global-warming-a-hoax/
4. Agenda
• Air Pollution Photos
• Air Quality – Worst Countries
• Air Quality – Best Countries
• Paris Accord Climate
• Paris Accord Climate – USA withdrawal
• Drinkable Water
• Water Treatment
• Climate Change – Raw Sewage
• Land Management
• Arctic Ice
• BC Gasoline Prices
• Ontario Failed Clean Policies
• Carbon Pricing and Household Costs
• Why you don’t vote Green
• Recycling
5. Air pollution cost Canadians $36B in 2015,
causes 7,700 premature deaths a year
• http://www.canadianmanufacturing.com/manufacturing/air-pollution-cost-canadians-36b-2015-causes-7700-premature-deaths-year-194416/
OTTAWA—Air pollution
cost Canadian families
an estimated $36 billion
in 2015 due to
premature death and
illness, a new research
report says.
Canadian Manufacturing – June 1, 2017
• How many of these people
smoke cigarettes?
• Canada has some of the best
air quality in the world
• How did they determine the
cost?
6. Federal Govt vs Provinces – Canada
Source - https://www.therecord.com/news-story/8871193-ontarians-won-t-be-punished-for-ford-s-climate-actions-mckenna/
McKenna said the Ford government's
actions will add 48 megatons of
pollution to the environment,
equivalent to opening 30 coal-fired
power plants.
"Unfortunately, the Ford
government has no climate plan,"
McKenna said. "You're just
contributing to the problem but
also the costs of climate change, so
that's the wrong direction."
• “Canada occupies over 998 million hectares of the earth’s
surface and includes more than 400 million hectares of forests.
This represents about 6% of the world’s forests. Ontario has
over 71 million hectares of forest – 2% of the world’s forests
and 17% of Canada’s forests. There are 10 hectares of land and
water for every citizen of the province. There are 6.5 hectares
of forest for every Ontarian.”Source -
https://www.ontario.ca/document/forest-resources-ontario-
2016 - Ontario forest, water and other vegetation absorb
carbon. It seems that Ms. McKenna missed that point
• Ontario has very tough vehicle emissions standards -
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/16-001-
m/2010012/part-partie1-eng.htm
• Ontario has low ranking VOC as compare to other jurisdictions
like AB -
https://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/provincial/environment
/VOC-emissions.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Summary:
• McKenna ignores carbon absorption
• McKenna thinks the only option is to bring in carbon tax when they have been a failure. Australia
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jul/03/tony-abbott-urges-withdrawal-from-paris-
agreement-despite-signing-australia-up-as-pm
7. FP/Carbon Tax Here is what missing from the article:
1. Clean Technology cannot exist without raw material, fabrication and
installation - https://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/clean-technology-
raw-materials-and-clean-products-canada-november-2017
2. Rare Metals leave an environmental mess -
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/rare-earth-mining-
china-social-environmental-costs
3. Many clean technology companies do not make money -
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/awash-in-red-ink-canadian-clean-tech-
struggling-despite-ottawa-s-green-goals-1.729679
4. Many provinces are against carbon pricing as it does not work. 2019 will see
a federal election as such the Liberals could be punted from office.
5. Economist said for carbon tax to work effectively they would need to be very
high. GDP and carbon tax - https://ipolitics.ca/2018/04/23/pbo-says-carbon-
tax-will-knock-10-billion-off-gdp-by-2022/
6. Canada has moved many areas to clean technology. Businesses themselves
have look at ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Businesses spoke out
during the election that carbon tax along with other regulations and costs
were too high. Ontario as well as Canada needs to be competitive -
https://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/cost-competitiveness-canada-
april-2018
Currently, the Federal government
is at advanced stages of
discussing a national carbon
pricing framework — in other
words a new legislation — mostly
affecting industries with high
greenhouse gas emissions in
provinces without any carbon
pricing plans.
The draft legislation, entitled the
Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing
Act is a rather complex law, giving
options for paying a straight up
carbon levy or opting for a cap-
and-trade system.
Source -
https://business.financialpost.com/commo
dities/energy/why-ontario-businesses-
should-be-objecting-to-doug-fords-exit-
from-the-carbon-pricing-
program?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_med
ium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#comments-
area
8. Emissions and Absorption – Canada
• “According to the aforementioned sources, Canada has approximately 990-million acres of forests,
370-million acres of wetlands, and 167-million acres of crop-yielding farmland. These are called
“carbon sinks.” Biologists tell us that trees absorb approximately 2.6 tonnes of carbon per acre per
year. So let’s to the math: 990-million acres x 2.6 tonnes per acre = 2.574-billion tonnes of carbon
being absorbed yearly. World-wide carbon emissions, in total, have been calculated to be 36-trillion
tonnes annually, to which Canada has been accused of contributing 1.67%. Ergo, more math: 36-
trillion tonnes x 0.0167 (1.67%) = 601.2-billion tonnes. This is the amount of carbon that Canada
annually contributes towards the doomsday scenario of end of the world as we know it. Now, forget
the wetlands and the farmland previously mentioned, and focus solely on Canada’s forests, which are
third in the world next to Russia and Brazil. In forests alone, Canada absorbs almost four times the
amount of carbon it emits, meaning the other three-quarters of our forests are sustaining themselves
on carbon being emitted by the rest of the world.
Source - http://torontosun.com/2016/08/10/not-seeing-the-forests-for-the-trillions-of-
trees/wcm/1b2cb068-5921-41ae-abf9-0c4fb6083787
10. Air Quality Index – Worst Countries
https://www.carbonbrief.org/paris-2015-tracking-country-climate-pledges
11. Air Quality Index – Best Countries
https://www.carbonbrief.org/paris-2015-tracking-
country-climate-pledges
• Both Canada and USA
have some of the best
air quality in the world
12. Paris Climate Accord
• https://www.carbonbrief.org/paris-2015-tracking-country-climate-pledges http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/06/what-are-the-actual-promises-and-
commitments-related-to-the-paris-
agreement.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2Fadvancednano+%28nextbigfuture%29
13. USA leaves Paris Climate Accord
• http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-leaves-paris-accord-but-not-just-about-climate-change-2017-6 or https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/climate/trump-paris-climate-agreement.html?_r=0
President Trump announced on Thursday that the United States would withdraw
from the Paris climate accord, weakening efforts to combat global warming and
embracing isolationist voices in his White House who argued that the agreement
was a pernicious threat to the economy and American sovereignty.
In a speech from the Rose Garden, Mr. Trump said the landmark 2015 pact
imposed wildly unfair environmental standards on American businesses and
workers. He vowed to stand with the people of the United States against what he
called a “draconian” international deal.
14. Canada / PM Trudeau
Comments:
• Cleantech is $50B business, but losing
money -
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/awash-in-
red-ink-canadian-clean-tech-struggling-
despite-ottawa-s-green-goals-1.729679
• Cleantech needs raw materials,
refinement, fabrication, delivery and
installation
• Canada is already carbon neutral
• Trudeau’s key member Gerald Butts was
responsible for the Green Act in Ontario.
Ontario has some highest electrical rates
in North American
• NWO is driving movement to eliminate
CO2 man-made
• CO2 is not a pollutant, but foundation for
life -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Smh
n1gL6Xg&t=713s
15. Justin Trudeau / Taxing Pollution
• https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-price-on-carbon-saskatchewan-
1.4823098?cmp=FB_Post_News
• “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended his government's push to put a "price on
pollution" in front of a skeptical Saskatchewan audience Thursday, while lamenting
Premier Scott Moe's insistence on taking the feds to court over the national climate
plan.”
• Business are already paying their share to meet tougher environmental standards that
you all but ignored. In 2014 business spent over 11.8B on environmental controls.
• “Environmental protection expenditures on pollution prevention declined from
$1.7 billion in 2012 to $1.5 billion in 2014” - https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-
quotidien/171024/dq171024a-eng.htm
• Yet carbon pollution has dropped “Meanwhile carbon pollution in that sector, which
includes the oilpatch in Alberta, dropped by 1.4 per cent in that year, while such
pollution nationwide dropped by 1.5 per cent following almost no change from 2014 to
2015, the agency said.”
• https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/09/10/news/canadas-carbon-pollution-
dropped-2016-economy-grew
16. Justin Trudeau telling Conservatives that taxing
pollution is the way forward for Canada
Video – October 6, 2018
• Waste Management is funding through property tax -
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2016/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-
98490.pdf
• Business costs including environmental costs about $12B per year -
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/171024/dq171024a-
eng.htm
• Australia repealed the carbon tax because it was doing nothing for the
environment - https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/australia-s-carbon-tax-
repealed-after-2-years-1.2709642.
• Canada emissions are down -
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2018/09/10/news/canadas-carbon-
pollution-dropped-2016-economy-grew
• Canada’s forest are carbon sinks https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/16-
201-x/2018001/sec-2-eng.htm - Canada needs to revisit how it manages its
forests - https://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/forestry-management-
practices-around-the-world-june-2018
18. Air Quality
• Poor air quality countries
• Cheap dirty coal
• De-Forestation
• Carbon based economy (oil)
• Poor environment regulations for air, water and land management
• Many countries have come along way in terms of air quality through
new regulations
• Tougher emissions control systems for cars
• Better scrubbing technology for industry
• Clean Coal
• Better management of forest (Natural Absorption for CO2 – Greenhouse gases
25. China / Water
Source - https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/11/china-spending-100-billion-to-start-addressing-severe-water-pollution.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2Fadvancednano+%28nextbigfuture%29
China launched nearly 8,000 water clean-up projects in the first half of 2017 with a projected total
investment of 667.4 billion yuan (US$100.2 billion).
The projects were devised as part of a 2015 action plan to treat and prevent water pollution, and
covered 325 contaminated groundwater sites across the country. A total of 343 contaminated sites
had been identified, meaning that 95 per cent had drawn up plans to bring water quality up to
required standards.
Large amounts of China’s water have been rendered unusable as a result of poorly regulated
industrial expansion, overmining and the uncontrolled use of pesticides and fertilisers.
26. Water Management/Nova Scotia
Source - https://www.canadianmanufacturing.com/environment-and-safety/nova-scotia-risk-becoming-island-action-isnt-taken-municipal-leaders-warn-204477/
Nova Scotia is at risk of becoming an island within decades if action is not taken to fix the
275-year-old dikes that prevent flooding of the isthmus connecting the province to the rest
of Canada, officials warn.
Mayor David Kogon of Amherst, N.S., said sea levels are projected to rise in the Bay of
Fundy over 15 to 20 years to the point where the Isthmus of Chignecto will flood, even
without a storm surge
27. Waste Management / Lebanon
• This used to be the sea,” she said outside her home. “One day we looked out,
we couldn’t see the sea.”
• Trucks and bulldozers have piled waste at a land reclamation site there since
last year. “In the summer, we died from the stench,” she said. “You can’t
control the smell...it seeps in from under the doors.”
• Landfills and dumpsites - many infamously known as “garbage mountains” -
have mushroomed across Lebanon since the 1990s.
Source - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-garbage/no-end-to-crisis-
in-sight-as-lebanons-garbage-mountains-grow-idUSKBN1FO0F1
• Yet Minster McKenna thinks Canada should tax pollution, right?
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2017/11/27/news/trudeau-government-
introduce-new-law-2018-make-polluters-pay
28. Water Treatment - Canada
Source - http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/sewage-pollution-wastewater-cities-
1.3889072
29. Climate Change / Raw
Sewage
Source - https://www.canadianmanufacturing.com/risk-and-compliance/climate-change-likely-
to-cause-more-sewage-leaks-mckenna-says-217806/
Climate change likely to cause
more sewage leaks, McKenna
says “Over one trillion litres of
raw sewage leaked into
Canadian waterways between
2013 and 2017”
Canadian Manufacturing – August
15, 2018 – Catherine McKenna
• “The first Canadian Infrastructure Report Card appeared in 2012.
The Report, generated from surveys of more than 100
municipalities representing 20 million Canadians, found that 30
per cent of municipal infrastructure ranked as less than ‘fair’
quality. The replacement cost for these assets was tallied at just
over $170 billion nationally.”Source - https://orba.org/wp-
content/uploads/2016/01/2016-Canadian-Infrastructure-Report-
Card.pdf or
http://www.coleengineering.ca/blog/2016/12/Canada-
infrastructure-gap
• Liberals have been slow with Infrastructure spending “But Mr.
Fréchette’s report notes that didn’t happen. Delays in organizing
the infrastructure programs and their projects made the Liberals
push back the funding. The Liberal platform promised $10-billion
in infrastructure spending for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 fiscal
years, and increased it to $11.3-billion in Finance Minister Bill
Morneau’s first budget. His latest budget reports only $6.6-billion
was spent in those two years, and the PBO report says it was
probably a little less.” – Source -
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-slow-pace-of-
infrastructure-spending-hurting-canadian-economy-and/
30. Houston / Urban Sprawl
Source - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/31/real-villains-harvey-flood-urban-sprawl
Houston’s catastrophic flood will be framed by leaders in Texas as an unforeseeable act
of God. It isn’t. Houston’s unfettered sprawl into the marshland of southeast Texas was a
conscious choice by policymakers. So was building a global city on a slowly submerging
swamp. Both were decisions that led to disaster.
Houston has quietly become our fourth largest and fastest-growing city, due in large part
to cheap housing. But the latter has come at an exorbitant cost to its safety. The swamps
and wetlands that once characterized Houston’s hinterland have been replaced with strip
malls and suburban tract homes.
31. Arable Land
Source - http://beef2live.com/story-countries-arable-land-world-0-108929
32. Taxing Pollution
• Tax was not revenue neutral
http://business.financialpost.com/opinion/how-b-c-s-
formerly-revenue-neutral-carbon-tax-turned-into-
another-government-cash-grab
• We already have taxes for pollution as part
environmental regulations -
https://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/environmen
tal-issues-it-is-not-about-climate-change-february-2018
• Carbon Tax will cost economy -
https://ipolitics.ca/2018/04/23/pbo-says-carbon-tax-
will-knock-10-billion-off-gdp-by-2022/
• Are you serious @cathmckenna - you now using forest
fires to plug your agenda?
https://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/forestry-
management-practices-around-the-world-february-
2018. You never call out the provinces for gutting of
their forest management budgets
•
• FYI – Climate always changes -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C35pasCr6KI&t=12
4s
•
• Blames Forest Fires on Climate
Change
• Will not provide cost impact to Tax
payers
• Blames CPC for not coming clean
on climate change
33. Best and Worst 25 Environmental Countries in the
world
Source - http://www.ssfindex.com/results/ranking-all-countries/ and Yale University
Best
Worst
35. Blog – Taxing Pollution
Carbon tax is pure tax grab!
https://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/carbon-tax-
and-emissions-canada-january-2018
People will spin carbon taxes can grow an economy and
that is fallacy. Carbon tax or in fact any tax is theft!
http://business.financialpost.com/commodities/energy/ott
awas-carbon-tax-plan-to-shrink-economy-by-3-billion-hurt-
loonie-in-2018-study
Why did Australia kill it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLjV04-V5WQ
36. Climate Change – Al Gore
• Are you serious? Al
Gore has been proven
time and time again
that he is a fraud!
https://www.investor
s.com/politics/editori
als/al-gores-climate-
change-hypocrisy-is-
as-big-as-his-energy-
sucking-mansion/ or
https://www.youtube
.com/watch?v=C35pas
Cr6KI or
https://www.youtube
.com/watch?v=-
Z_IC3xrgJk
39. Carbon Tax/Pricing
• @AndreaHorwath @OntarioNDP
•
• You supported the carbon tax, right? So, you are ok with people families pay
$160 out of their pockets to drive. Wynne said she needed this money for her
government, right? http://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/h-wynne-
spills-the-beans-on-carbon-pricing or
https://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/carbon-tax-impact-to-taxpayers-
canada-may-2018
40. Australia / Carbon Tax
Source - https://www.taxpayer.com/news-releases/lessons-from-australia---carbon-tax-failure
Australia’s national carbon tax came into effect July 1, 2012, and was repealed on July 17, 2014.
“Australians tried a carbon tax, it didn’t work, so they repealed it, and Canadians need to take a close
look at that experience,” said CTF Federal Director Aaron Wudrick. “Many Canadians are about to feel the
impact of a national carbon tax and it’s important to find out what to expect and hear it first-hand from a
country that has tried it.”
Australia produces roughly 1.5 per cent of world greenhouse gas emissions. Canada produces 1.65 per
cent.
“Many Australians faced high energy bills and job losses as a result of our carbon tax,” said Chris Berg of
the Institute of Public Affairs.
“The government was forced to create heaps of new bureaucracy, rebates, free carbon credits and red
tape just to deal with the fallout from the tax. And worst of all, it did virtually nothing to impact global
climate change. Canadians should not follow us down this path.”
41. Arctic Ice
Source - https://principia-scientific.org/worst-possible-scenario-for-arctic-alarmists/
Arctic sea ice volume is fifth highest for the date since 2003, and likely to move into the #3 spot
tomorrow. Melt this season has been the slowest on record.
42. Ontario Failed Clean Energy Policies
• FIT – Failures - http://business.financialpost.com/opinion/boondoggle-how-
ontarios-pursuit-of-renewable-energy-broke-the-provinces-electricity-system
• Electrical Car Failures - https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-
cuts-off-rebates-for-electric-vehicles-costing-more-than-75k-1.4571548 - This
never bumped car sales
• Smart Meter - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/smart-meters-hydro-
bills-ontario-time-of-use-pricing-1.3862462
• http://torontosun.com/2017/09/05/ontario-energy-efficiency-programs-wont-
work/wcm/6ae78550-0289-413c-a56e-e7abc6ef6e94 - Minimal savings
• https://twitter.com/AndreaHorwath/status/1009238019226947587 or
https://www.canadianmanufacturing.com/regulation/ontario-green-renovation-
rebates-funded-through-cap-and-trade-system-cancelled-214926/
43. BC Gas Prices
Source -
https://www.canadianmanufacturing.com/regu
lation/b-c-government-to-consider-relief-for-
record-gas-prices-horgan-230465/ or
https://globalnews.ca/news/4092404/vancouv
er-gas-prices-kinder-morgan-pipeline/
45. Household Costs / Carbon Pricing
How so? The carbon tax would cost people an extra $1,100 to
1,800 through higher costs. The tax rebate would be lucky to
cover 10% of the cost. Liberals are lying as they normally do
because they do not consider the complete past through of
the carbon to consumer goods, household expenses, etc.
https://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/the-art-of-taxing-
pollution-canada-april-2019
It is the liberals that are dishonest as they never released
their carbon pricing economic impact, why?
https://capforcanada.com/canadian-households-to-pay-1100-
per-year-in-carbon-
tax/?fbclid=IwAR02rsYH4ht9Gw3ESA0MsI34UeLjjnZ6sFW40
leAoqVLr0FqY56wFuJgpJc or
https://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/the-art-of-taxing-
pollution-canada-april-2019
Or https://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/the-art-of-taxing-
pollution-canada-april-2019
46. Recycling
Source - https://rco.on.ca/canada-waste-statistics/ or https://theweek.com/articles/819488/america-recycling-problem-heres-how-solve
• Solutions
• How to best to recycle paper, plastics, cans, etc as they include waste
• AI and Robots - https://www.prescouter.com/2018/12/the-holy-grail-of-recycling-ai-powered-robots/
• Trash sorting robots - https://www.waste360.com/recycling/ai-equipped-trashbot-uses-sensors-sort-trash
• Pricing of recycling material - https://globalnews.ca/news/5207256/economics-of-recycling-canada/ (Companies are having trouble
with recovery costs. Government has to re-look at its environmental fees as way to promote zero waste.)
• Zero Waste Model - https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/allison-hanes-zero-waste-revolution-arriving-slowly-in-
montreal - The tax code could include additional deductions when it comes to managing waste, i.e. CCA for capital equipment to
help with zero waste management/recycling or waste to fuel equipment or other deductions)
47. Why you don’t vote Green
• Why you don’t vote green party
• Who in their right mind would vote green?
Green Party plan is neither fiscally sound nor
economically sound!
https://www.slideshare.net/paulyoungcga/w
ho-are-the-green-party-and-why-you-should-
not-vote-for-the-green-party
48. Conclusion
• Too many countries are using carbon tax/pricing to cut emission without any real success
• Government are masking green policies as they are helping the environment which in fact all they have done is hike taxes as well as
increase the cost of power generation
• Poor land and water management policies
• Too many governments are not taking a balance approach to both environment and the economy.
• CO2 is not end all for climate -
• Carbon taxation does to not reduced emission - https://www.energeticcity.ca/2019/01/co2-emissions-continue-to-rise-in-b-c-despite-
provincial-carbon-tax/ or https://globalnews.ca/news/3097838/cap-and-trade-to-cost-people-business-8b-in-first-years-auditor/