Dirty Subsidies!

One of the biggest hammers used against the oil sands is subsidies. Supposedly oil is heavily subsidized, or not!

Oil isn’t subsidized

A leaked Finance Canada memo last week raises the possible curtailment of corporate tax write-offs for exploration, development and flow-through shares. Again, the subsidy issue is at the heart. In the new world of clean energy, tax subsidies for wind, solar and bio-diesel seem perfectly acceptable, no matter their size or effectiveness. Fossil fuels are another matter, even if more than 80% of energy comes from these sources.

It seems that Ontario can subsidize the heck out of "green" energy, and no one says boo, but the same can't be said about Alberta energy. That sick east west divide started by the Trudeau Liberals is still alive and festering.



So, who are funding the "greens"?

With about $20-billion in assets, a handful of U.S. foundations give out about $1.2-billion in grants every year. Over the past decade these foundations have pumped over $100-million into the environmental movement in B.C. Canadian environmental organizations justify this arrangement by calling it foreign investment in Canada.

Some Canadian environmental groups have become largely dependent on these U.S. donors. The result is that the voices of small rural communities and organizations can be drowned out by paid operatives of Canadian-based organizations that are tapping into the deep pockets of American foundations.

And in Ontario it is the taxpayer that is on the hook for "green" energy.

Passed in May 2009 as part of the Act, Ontario’s feed-in-tariff (FIT) program offers a guaranteed long-term pricing structure for producers building wind farms, solar power and renewable biogas. Depending on the method of power generation, the prices offered range from 11.1¢ per kilowatt hour to 80.2¢ for a 20-year period.

Because the prices paid for energy produced by FIT projects far surpasses the current market value of 6.5¢ per kilowatt hour for electricity in Ontario, producers need to prove a certain percentage of the project cost was spent inside the province. To qualify, solar-based projects need to be 50% made-in-Ontario (to become 60% next year) and wind-based projects need to be 25% made-in-Ontario (to become 50% in 2012).

If I lived in Ontario, I would be really concerned about paying 5 to 75 cents more for my power. Who is gaining by all these subsidized programs? Big energy companies like General Electric. So, taxpayers are paying extra so that GE can gain more profits, and the "progressives" don't care. The NDP yap about "green" energy all the time, and it is going to hit the disadvantaged the hardest. Why would they be pushing higher energy costs? UNIONS.

So, who is getting the "dirty" subsidies? Look no further than the "green" energy sector. It's a big money grabbing scheme.