A PETITION TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE CANADIAN PARLIAMENT
WHEREAS many Canadians have experienced substantial inflation of home heating costs, with the impact being unequally distributed and causing such severe hardship on some as to warrant a program of relief; and
WHEREAS the potential risks of global warming as a result of human CO2 emissions require the imposition of a uniform recovery cost on all emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere, with any deviation from the universal equal application of such a cost creating a perception of unfairness and inviting further cases of special pleading, which undermines the legitimacy and effectiveness of the program;
THEREFORE WE THE UNDERSIGNED DEMAND THAT THE CANADIAN PARLIAMENT
move immediately to
REVERSE THE ILL-CONSIDERED CARBON TAX EXEMPTION ON HOME HEATING OIL
and instead
IMPLEMENT A UNIVERSAL FAIR HOME HEATING INFLATION SHOCK PROTECTION GRANT
Such a grant should be calculated, for each household, as some fraction of the difference between that household’s home heating cost increase over the previous year and the national average for that increase (perhaps pro-rated to the previous year’s actual btu usage so as not to reward increased consumption).
This would have the benefit of applying fairly to all of us on a basis other than mere geography or specific fuel type and with clarity as to why those who benefit deserve special treatment.
It may end up having the same geographically distributed effect this year as the oil tax exemption, but the justification for such inequality would be apparent in its method of calculation, and the universality of the Carbon price would not be compromised.