Faithfully yours - Maybe we should look for the silver lining

Details

Published on Sunday, January 15, 2017

By Neil Strohschein

The Neepawa Banner

I left Alberta (my home province) 20 years ago when I moved to Neepawa. I have now become thoroughly “Manitobaized (my term meaning that I think and act like most other Manitobans);” and will probably die and be buried in this province.

That being said, my roots are still in Alberta. I try to keep in regular contact with my brothers (one of whom took over our family’s farm) and read the Facebook “opinions (a word I use rather loosely)” posted by my cousins in response to actions by the province’s NDP government.

This week’s target of choice is the Carbon Tax that came into force January 1. It will likely add $200-300 to the amount an average Alberta family will pay to fill their car with fuel and heat their home for the coming year. But, this assumes that the average Alberta family lives in a major city, can take public transportation to work or school and has only one car. Many don’t; and their costs will be considerably higher. While some families will qualify for a carbon tax rebate, it will only offset part of the total, especially if one family member commutes to Edmonton, Calgary or Red Deer for work from their home in an outlying community.

Some commodities (most notably dyed farm fuels) will be exempt from the tax; but farmers will still pay higher rates for electricity, non-dyed fuel, and the natural gas most use to heat their homes, dairy and hog barns and buildings used to service and repair farm equipment.

So expect costs to go up; and when the carbon tax is added to the manufacturing and retailing sector, the annual cost to the average Alberta family could reach $600 or more. So I am not surprised to see the degree of anxiety and anger that is being expressed by many Albertans; including members of my own family.

Well, we better get used to carbon taxes; because in one form or another, they are going to be with us for the next few years. They have already created a huge cloud of uncertainty; as no one (not even our leaders) really knows how these taxes will be applied or the impact they will have on the costs of the goods and services we “end users” purchase.

That cloud will hover over all of us for a long time; because any new tax, once implemented is highly unlikely to be repealed. Remember the GST? Remember who promised to repeal it if we voted them into power? Remember how quickly they reneged on that promise? Remember why? Personally, I believe carbon taxes will enjoy the same immunity once our leaders see how much revenue these levies will generate.

So I think we need to start looking for a silver lining in this cloud—and I think I may have found one. My silver lining is deeply rooted in my faith in a God who loves what he has created and who had promised to supply the food, drink, clothing and shelter that all people on earth need.

These new taxes will have an impact on us all. They will limit our mobility and they will limit some of the choices we can make. We will be forced to cut back in some areas and look for efficiencies in others. But in the process, we will learn to lean on each other more and together as communities and families, we will learn to trust God even more than we do today. And I see nothing wrong with that.