Letters to the Editor, March 22

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CARBON TAX SHOULD BE EVEN HIGHER

Re “Carbon tax will cost 200,000 jobs, $1,800 per worker, says study” (Lorrie Goldstein, March 16): Imagine with me, for a moment, that everything purported within the Fraser Institute’s report is true. If so, the most alarming opinion laid out for us within those pages is not the loss of jobs, but their acknowledgment that our carbon tax as it stands is not high enough to achieve the reduction of 227 million tonnes needed to remain consistent with our Paris target goals. Considering the fact that a number of widely accepted economic models estimate that the future damages from climate change will negatively impact the global economy’s GDP by anywhere from 2% to 10% yearly, the Fraser Institute’s estimation of a 2.1% loss over the next 10 years seems suddenly like a rosy alternative. If anything, it indicates that the government should be increasing the carbon tax even more to mitigate as much of the future damage as possible.

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Mark Taylor
Calgary

(Canadians cannot afford it. We are doing many things to take action to combat climate change, but we can’t have government personally bankrupt us in the meantime)

SCIENCE SPEAKS

There are times when government actually works. Then we have seen Brazil and the United States, where a populist government has been a disaster in keeping its citizens safe. To suggest that politicians should make public health decisions would be an unmitigated disaster, as has been proven by the aforementioned governments. The United States is recovering under a responsible government but only because the new president is following science and the recommendations of the public health officials. Politicians have a paramount job: Get re-elected. The last person who should be managing our health concerns is someone who will do the most populist option to ensure he or she forms the next government. This is a once-in-100-years medical emergency and of course, it is a learning curve for all involved. What is not uncertain is that medicine has saved us from polio, mumps, measles, whooping cough, malaria, and more. No politician can ever provide such results in their careers. As painful socially, economically and academically as this pandemic has been, leaving this in the hands of politicians would have been more destructive by far.

M. Arnaud
Bath, Ont.

(In many parts of Canada, the medical officers of health have been making most of the decisions. We can debate how that has worked out for us long term)

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PREDICTABLE SUN

When I read your columnists’ articles on the pandemic, it’s difficult to get past the sound of their knuckles dragging. As usual, the Toronto Sun plays with truth in order to fit it into your political agenda. You can act as the iconoclast while ignoring science but remember, some people will take what you print as gospel. A lot of your talking points parrot or mimic the anti-science crap that comes out of the mouths of American Republicans. Do you really want to be like Texas right now? Public health officials have no agenda but to save lives. Your brand of journalism is irresponsible and dangerous. OK, I’m done ranting. Insert your smart-assed flippant reply here …

Steve Wilson
Oshawa

(Keep reading!)