• CTF draws parallels between Free Trade election and Charlottetown Accord referendum which necessitated national consultation
• Taxpayers note Referendum Act, 1992 easily amendable for Kyoto question
• CTF reveals flaws in government's economic impact analysis
  Long-term impact and process questions remain unanswered, referendum debate would "clear the air"

OTTAWA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today called on the federal government to hold a national referendum on a specific legislative proposal for implementing the Kyoto Protocol. The CTF is also launching a nation-wide petition campaign in support of a referendum.

Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997, binds Canada to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 6% below its 1990 emission levels by 2012. To achieve this target, Canada must reduce its CO2 (carbon dioxide being the most common greenhouse gas) emissions by 240 MT (megatonnes) by 2012.

Precedent for national consultation well-established -
"The Kyoto Protocol, by the government's own admission and calculations released last week, could result in the loss of up to 244,000 jobs. Other organizations and groups peg the economic devastation at 450,000 lost jobs over a decade. An issue of this magnitude should be put to Canadians directly," said CTF federal director Walter Robinson.

"We find it more than a touch ironic that former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney - for all his faults and failings - at least had the decency to put the contentious issues of Free Trade and the Charlottetown Accord before Canadians for their judgment in a general election and referendum respectively. Surely the Kyoto Protocol is of equal magnitude," added Robinson.

Referendum Act could be easily modified for Kyoto question or questions -
"The 1992 Referendum Act can be used as the template - with minor modifications - for the conduct of a national referendum on Kyoto," noted Robinson. "All the elements are there - the ability to ask one or more questions, consultation with federal opposition parties on the exact question or questions to be asked, and oversight by Elections Canada."

Ottawa's economic impact analysis is flawed in the extreme -
"Last Friday, Ottawa unveiled economic impact projections offering yet another testament to the government's bungling of the climate change file," stated Robinson.

The CTF has revealed the following flaws in the government's projections:

• All calculations are based on a 170 MT reduction as opposed to a 240 MT reduction as mandated in the Kyoto Protocol. The federal government continues to cling to the faint hope that Canada will receive a 70 MT credit for its clean energy exports to the United States even though European nations continue to give every indication they will balk at this effort.
  
  
• The government estimates "tax financing" to fund Kyoto initiatives will result in a $1,700 reduction in disposable income per household in 2010. Therefore Kyoto will result in a family that would have had $68,000 in disposable income ending up with $66,300. This lost is based on the 170 MT reduction target: the loss for this "model" family becomes an extra $510 for a total of $2,210 if the 240 MT reduction target is to be achieved. This cost climbs even higher if competing private sector or think-tank models are employed.
  
  
• The government estimates that its own financing efforts would result in a minimal $200 loss for its "model" family. In its model, Ottawa engages in classic doublespeak by noting a "government financed" model "avoids tax increases" but in the next sentence notes "future budgets will make the actual decisions as to how to finance the increased spending and accommodate reduced revenues - by allocating surpluses, by reallocating or by raising taxes."
  "Tax financed or government financed, there is absolutely no difference since all this money comes from taxpayers anyways," stressed Robinson.

Questions of process remain unanswered -
"Key questions of implementation continue to remain unanswered by the Prime Minister and his Environment Minister," said Robinson.

Robinson asked: "How will our economic competitiveness be affected when the United States - our major NAFTA trading partner - refuses to sign on How much will it cost taxpayers over the coming decades to buy unused greenhouse gas emissions trading credits - assuming as the government has that this market will exist - from countries such as China, India and Russia What will happen to Canada if we, as a country, fail to meet our Kyoto commitments by 2012 Will international fines be imposed How will we pay for them "

"Adopting the Kyoto Protocol has the potential to harm every region of Canada. That's why Canadian taxpayers deserve a direct say for or against a specific legislative proposal," concluded Robinson. "If there was ever an issue that calls for a national referendum, Canada's participation in and adherence to the Kyoto Protocol is it. The Prime Minister's legacy is on the line, will he go down in history as a democrat or demagogue "