Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 5, 2022, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A2 A2 SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2022 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM INSIDE Arts and Life G1 Business B4 Classifieds E8 Comics I3 Community Voices B3 Destinations I1 Diversions G6 Homes H1 Horoscope G8 Jumble G7 Miss Lonelyhearts G8 Money Matters B7 Obituaries C1 Opinion A12 Sports E1 Television D7 Weather D8 Weekend Review D1 49.8 F1 COLUMNISTS: Dan Lett A8 Laura Rance B6 Tim Kist B7 Barbara Bowes B8 Mike McIntyre E1 Alison Gillmor F9 Mitch Calvert F11 Doug Speirs G3 Ben Sigurdson G4 READER SERVICE ● GENERAL INQUIRIES 204-697-7000 VOL 151 NO 113 Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 2022 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published seven days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 204-697-7000 Publisher / BOB COX Editor / PAUL SAMYN Associate Editor Enterprise / SCOTT GIBBONS Associate Editor News / STACEY THIDRICKSON Associate Editor Digital News / WENDY SAWATZKY Director Photo and Multimedia / MIKE APORIUS NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL The Winnipeg Free Press is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent organization established to determine acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. If you have concerns about editorial content, please send them to: editorialconcerns@freepress.mb.ca. If you are not satisfied with the response and wish to file a formal complaint, visit the website at www.mediacouncil.ca and fill out the form or call toll-free 1-844-877-1163 for additional information. 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Call or email before 10 a.m. weekdays or 11 a.m. Saturday City: 204-697-7001 Outside Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 press 1 6:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.; 7 a.m. - noon Saturday; Closed Sunday TO SUBSCRIBE: 204-697-7001 Out of Winnipeg: 1-800-542-8900 fpcirc@freepress.mb.ca The Free Press receives support from the Local Journalism Initiative funded by the Government of Canada COVID-19 AT A GLANCE Cases: MANITOBA Confirmed: 131,526 Resolved: 122,694 Deaths: 1,690 Active: 7,142 (As of 12:30 p.m. Friday) CANADA Confirmed: 3,310,235 Resolved: 3,161,823 Deaths: 36,843 Active: 111,569 (As of 8 a.m. Friday) The latest from Manitoba: ● Manitoba announced five more deaths due to COVID-19 on Friday as hospitalizations fell. As of midnight, 420 people were being treated for COVID-19 in hospital, including 22 in intensive care, representing a decrease of 39 patients since Thursday. The province’s pandemic death toll increased by five to 1,690. There were 178 cases reported. The province is no longer tracking the majority of positive COVID-19 cases because Manitobans using rapid tests cannot report their results. The five-day test-positivity rate provincewide was 12.6 per cent. Vaccine eligibility: ● First- and second-dose vaccinations are available for all Manitobans over five years of age. Third dose shots are now available to all Manitoba adults. Check eligibility criteria and recommended time frames between doses at wfp.to/eligibility. Appointments can be booked online at wfp.to/bookvaccine or by calling 1-844-626-8222. The latest from elsewhere: ● Although Toronto concert venues — and clubs especially — were allowed 100 per cent capacity for six weeks in late 2021 before the Omicron surge hit, the current lifting of restrictions feels like it’s more final than in other incarnations. Shaun Bowring, owner of Toronto clubs the Garrison (capacity 350) and the Baby G (capacity 150), agreed. “Hopefully headed into an endemic.’ That seems to be something that’s happening globally, not just locally or provincially.” While the mask mandate remains for venues, the mandatory vaccine passport requirement is no longer in effect. But Bowring said it isn’t that simple. “They have lifted it but I think it’s a little premature,” he said. “Some of our contracts say that a vaccine passport is in effect and, in those cases, the audience will be checked. I think for the confidence of the audience that bought tickets in advance for these shows we are gonna want to keep that in place.”. ● New York City and Los Angeles are lifting some of their strictest COVID-19 prevention measures as officials in big cities around the U.S. push for a return to normalcy after two grueling years of the pandemic. New York City, which has long prided itself as having the nation’s toughest COVID-19 safety protocols, will do away with several of its mandates next week, including required masking in public schools and vaccination re- quirements at restaurants, entertainment and cultural venues, the mayor announced Friday. On the other side of the country, residents in Los Angeles County were no longer required as of Friday to wear masks at restaurants, bars, gyms, shops and other businesses, though the city of Los Angeles is still requiring many indoor businesses to verify that their patrons are fully vaccinated.. Quote: “(Quebec Premier François Legault) is not reliable. Even worse, he does not tell the truth to Quebecers. The latest curfew was not a public health recommendation and in his usual lack of transparency, refused to answer our questions.” — Quebec Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade tweeted Friday in response to a report that Mont- real public health officials were against the Decem- ber curfew there because of a lack of evidence T HERE are a few good reasons why the federal government should cancel its plan to increase carbon taxes next month. Politically, the idea of jacking up taxes at the pump when gas prices (and the cost of almost everything else) are going through the roof may not go over well with voters. But there are economic and environ- mental reasons, too, why Ottawa should hold off on the planned tax hike. The Trudeau government imposed a $20-per-tonne carbon tax in 2019 in provinces such as Manitoba that did not have their own similar tax scheme. The so-called federal backdrop tax has increased by $10 per tonne each year since, or about 2.2 cents per litre of gasoline annually. It’s expected to rise from 8.8 cents to 11 cents per litre April 1. The stated objective of the tax is to use price signals to discourage people from burning fossil fuels: the higher the price, the more likely people will conserve and/or switch to alternative and more environmentally sustainable energy and transportation options. The economic theory is sound. Energy consumption is, to some degree, elastic in that it responds to price changes. The trick is figuring out how prices affect demand. That’s not easy to do with fuel consumption, which tends to be less elastic than most goods. It takes more than a few cents of taxes on a litre of fuel to affect driver behaviour. It’s unlikely the 8.8 cents-per-litre carbon tax imposed so far has had any impact on demand. Most people probably don’t even know it’s there. Will adding another 2.2 cents a litre April 1 make a difference on consumer behaviour? Probably not. However, a 15-cent price jump at the pumps within a few days — which is what we saw in Winnipeg this week — may. It’s the kind of sudden spike in prices that will probably make people think twice about where they drive, how much they drive and what they drive. It will likely rise further in the coming months, given the geopolitical events in eastern Europe. The question then becomes: why do we need a carbon tax if market prices are already providing sufficient price signals to reduce demand? Gasoline prices in Winnipeg, includ- ing this week’s increase, have climbed 48 cents per litre over the past year, according to Statistics Canada figures. Of that, only 2.2 cents came from the carbon tax. The increase in market prices over the past year is more than five times what the carbon tax has added to the cost of fuel since 2019. In fact, the price increase in one year is more than the full $170-per- tonne carbon tax the federal govern- ment plans to apply by 2030 (about 37 cents per litre). With gasoline prices unlikely to come down any time soon, if ever, market prices are already fulfilling the objective of the carbon tax. Which is why it should be scrapped, at least for gasoline and diesel. Adding more taxes on top of soaring costs at the pump would do little, if anything, to impact consumer be- haviour. But it would take more money out of people’s pockets and contribute to inflation. It would also dispropor- tionately harm small business and municipalities whose finances have been severely eroded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Fuel prices are one of the major drivers of inflation (already up 5.1 per cent in Canada in January and grow- ing) in large part because of the impact transportation costs have on the price of most goods, including food. It could be argued that carbon-tax rates should continue to escalate on top of increasing fuel prices because it would further strengthen price signals required to discourage the burning of fossil fuels. Perhaps. But there would be costs associated with that, including inflationary and economic. A Parliamentary Budget Officer report released last year estimated the federal carbon tax would reduce Cana- da’s real GDP by 0.8 per cent by 2030. At the very least, the federal government should hold off on any further carbon-tax increases until — or if — fuel prices fall. There are many other proven ways of reducing green- house-gas emissions other than taxing fuel, including through innovation and regulatory regimes. Increasing the tax further under current economic conditions would be nothing more than a political exercise by the federal Liberals. It could turn out to be a very unwise one. tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca Carbon-tax hike adds insult to gas-price injury TOM BRODBECK OPINION MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS At a staggering $163.9 per litre in Winnipeg, gas prices already act as a deterrent to driving. Upping the carbon tax makes no sense. A_02_Mar-05-22_FP_01.indd 2 2022-03-04 10:19 PM ;