Dear John,

Canada’s ambitious “net zero” goal – that is, to emit no greenhouse gas emissions or “offset” all emissions by 2050 – has resulted in some questionable government policies…

… expensive and contentious policies that many Canadians remain uninformed about.

But they provide a great example of why the work we do here at the Fraser Institute is so important!

My name is Elmira Aliakbari and I am the Director of Natural Resource Studies.

When Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government first announced their planned $170 per tonne carbon tax, they said it would have “almost zero” impact on the economy – however, they provided no analysis proving so.

My team then released the first independent, publicly available analysis of the actual estimated effects of the carbon tax.

Far from “almost zero” impact, our analysis found that the increase will, in fact, have significant impacts on Canadians:

• Over 184,000 jobs will be lost nationwide
• A massive $37.8 billion decline in GDP
• Higher provincial and federal deficits
• Higher energy costs

In addition to their punishing carbon tax, the federal government has mandated that all new passenger vehicles and light trucks sold in Canada must be zero-emission by 2035.

Another recent study of ours found that this goal is completely unrealistic.

Why?

Because 388 new mines must be built by 2030 to satisfy international electric vehicle mandates. (For context: as of 2021, only 340 metal mines operate in Canada and the U.S.)

And it takes a lot of time to get mining projects up and running – nickel production takes between 13 and 18 years!

John, I’m happy to report that these studies received widespread coverage in the Canadian media.

They were placed in newspapers from coast-to-coast, and reached hundreds of thousands of people on social media.

This is what we do here at the Fraser Institute: give Canadians the facts and numbers they need to hold their governments accountable.

Unlike so many other organizations, we do not accept government funding to conduct our research. We rely entirely on supporters like you.

If you’re able to, I’d like to ask that you make a donation today.

Every dollar you donate will help us inform more Canadians about the effects of government policy.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Elmira Aliakbari
Director, Natural Resource Studies
The Fraser Institute