Who would pay $25 for something when other people would only pay 14 cents? Why, the government of course!

The B.C. government is forcing its ministries, agencies, as well as schools and hospitals, to pay for the amount of carbon they emit. This is part of Gordon Campbell's plan to have a carbon neutral public sector by 2011 - all to battle global warming. But when the BBC and even the Globe and Mail start pointing out we haven't had any global warming since 1998 while carbon dioxide levels continue to rise, we know the tide has turned on the global warming hysteria.

Businesses still have time to cash in, and they are. The government  will send tax dollars to businesses and industries if they lower their carbon emissions, and to companies set up specifically to absorb those funds. The government created a new Crown Corporation to tax tax dollars and redistribute them to businesses. It's called the Pacific Carbon Trust.

How does this work? Schools and hospitals pay $25 dollars per tonne of carbon they emit to the Pacific Carbon Trust, then the Pacific Carbon Trust sends that money to groups that have lowered their emissions. The Trust has not disclosed how much it pays to companies for each tonne of reduced emissions. We can only hope it is not more than $25 per tonne.

If the school or hospital wanted to pay only 14 cents for that tonne of carbon, it could call up the Chicago Climate Exchange and buy an offset, or a credit, for the carbon they emitted, from them. But no, taxpayers are on the hook to pay $25 for that same tonne of carbon emissions.

Why?  Because it when government uses tax dollars, it has no incentive to save money. Would you use your own money to spend $25 dollars on something when you could get it for 14 cents?  Of course not.

The BC government gave $14 million in 'seed' money to the Trust then paid about $860,000 to offset 34,370 tonnes of carbon emissions. Instead of paying for hot air, what could the government have done with money instead?  How about reducing the deficit or even to school sports programs? But wait, it gets worse. Instead of funding for students, right now government is forcing school boards to purchase software to measure their carbon emissions. This will cost 42 cents per student for the software alone. But that is only part of it. This also involves hiring people to go around to the schools and do important things like measure the emissions coming out of the old fridge in the staff room.  The government's priorities are all wrong.  

How does this benefit business?  Well, if a company like Shell Oil reduces the amount of carbon dioxide it emits by one tonne, it gets a credit paid to it of some amount from the Trust. So in other words, schools could be sending money to companies like Shell Oil instead of paying for after school programs. A fine example of our tax dollars at work.

But wait, Shell Oil received $856 million dollars from the federal and Alberta governments for its carbon capture and storage project. It will capture carbon dioxide in the air then bury it. So, it got tax dollars to create the technology to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions, and now it can also get more money from government for reducing its carbon dioxide emssions. If you've ever wondered why some companies do really well, here's a good example. Some companies can drill for oil and gas, and for tax dollars too.

Carbon offset promoters argue that the Chicago Climate Exchange isn't as trustworthy as a government program. After all, bureaucrats work altruistically for the greater public good, right? Just like the managers at ICBC's research facility who were buying salvaged vehicles for themselves using insider information and getting their own cars repaired. This scam went on for 10 years before the whistle blew.

While perhaps well intentioned, government spending to stop global warming will do nothing to stop global warming, hurt families and children, and redistribute tax dollars to businesses. It's time to jump off the global warming bandwagon.