Obstacles to Carbon Pricing in Canadian Provinces

Houle, David

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2598985

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Secondary sources argue that the government's poor selling of the carbon tax weakened its chances; they argue that the government had no plan to communicate with the public about the tax and emphasized its economic rather than environmental benefits, as the finance ministry overshadowed the environmental ministry (Gunster, 2010, pp. 190, 198, 205; Houle, 2015, pp. 267–8; Sodero, 2011, pp.…”

Section: British Columbia Carbon Tax Casementioning

confidence: 99%

The Political Viability of Carbon Pricing: Policy Design and Framing in British Columbia and California

Karapin

2020

Review of Policy Research

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The adoption of climate policies with visible, substantial costs for households is uncommon because of expected political backlash, but British Columbia's carbon tax and California's cap-and-trade program imposed such costs and still survived vigorous opposition. To explain these outcomes, this article tests hypotheses concerning policy design, framing, energy prices, and elections. It conducts universalizing and variation-finding comparisons across three subcases in the two jurisdictions and uses primary sources to carry out process tracing involving mechanisms of public opinion and elite position-taking. The article finds strong support for the timing of independent energy price changes, exogenous causes of election results, reducing the visibility of carbon pricing, and using public-benefit justifications, as well as some support for making concessions to voters. By contrast, the effects of the use of revenue, industry exemptions/compensations, and making polluters pay are not uniform, because the effects of revenue use depend on how it is embedded in coalition building efforts and a middle path between exempting or compensating industry and burdening it appears to be more effective than pursuing just one or the other approach.

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Section: British Columbia Carbon Tax Casementioning

confidence: 99%

The Political Viability of Carbon Pricing: Policy Design and Framing in British Columbia and California

Karapin

2020

Review of Policy Research

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“…Provinces like BC, Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario were planning to institute a regional cap-and-trade system with California, called the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), which set an absolute cap on emissions. Alberta did not participate in WCI, which would facilitate the creation of norms and values around instruments like cap-and-trade, because these policies could increase costs for industry and harm competitiveness (Houle, 2014). At a 2007 meeting of provincial premiers, Stelmach argued that cap-and-trade in Alberta would be too expensive and kill jobs in the oil sector (Benzie and Gordon, 2007).…”

Section: Explaining Alberta Climate Change Policies: Methods and Evidmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Province under Pressure: Climate Change Policy in Alberta

Boyd

2018

Can J Pol Sci

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Alberta is responsible for over a third of Canada's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Reducing the country's emissions requires policies and initiatives that reduce emissions in the province. Yet the study of provincial climate change policy in Canada has largely focused on lower-emitting provinces like British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario. This article argues that Alberta is best understood as a “reluctant actor” on climate change, whose policies are influenced by decisions and pressures from outside its borders. The literature on Canadian-American environmental policy making and international policy transfer are used to explore provincial GHG targets and carbon pricing policies. The article finds that Alberta's 2002 targets and Specified Gas Emitters Regulation were determined by economic competitiveness and leakage concerns, while the adoption of new GHG targets in 2008 and a carbon tax was the result of policy transfer through political bandwagoning and the desire for reputational benefits.

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“…An important strand of the literature on subnational climate change policy focuses on the role of states and provinces in federal systems. Authors including Barry Rabe (), Kathryn Harrison (), and David Houle (; Houle, Lachapelle, & Purdon, ) have focused on the regulations, market mechanisms, and other policies that American states and Canadian provinces have implemented in order to change the behavior of individuals, firms, and local governments. In these analyses, state and provincial governments are the major driver of other climate actions because they structure the incentives and constraints that the other actors in the system are subject to.…”

Section: Influencing Local Climate Change Policy: Two Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomous Local Climate Change Policy: An Analysis of the Effect of Intergovernmental Relations Among Subnational Governments

Schwartz

2019

Review of Policy Research

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Local governments have emerged as important players in climate change governance, both at home and on the international stage. Likewise, action by states and provinces has been increasingly highlighted, particularly as national actors have moved slowly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But to what extent do local governments act independently from state and provincial governments in the area of climate change mitigation? Using an explicit process tracing approach, the article tests two hypotheses regarding the influence of upper level subnational governments on local policy. In Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, a city that is a climate change leader, provincial government intervention cannot explain the results of climate change mitigation policy making. This suggests that local governments can exercise an important degree of autonomy over climate change policy, but also implies that where municipalities are less independently committed to climate action, active upper level government intervention will likely be needed.

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Obstacles to Carbon Pricing in Canadian Provinces

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

The Political Viability of Carbon Pricing: Policy Design and Framing in British Columbia and California

The Political Viability of Carbon Pricing: Policy Design and Framing in British Columbia and California

A Province under Pressure: Climate Change Policy in Alberta

Autonomous Local Climate Change Policy: An Analysis of the Effect of Intergovernmental Relations Among Subnational Governments

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