Robson Fletcher

While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Robson Fletcher.

Robson Fletcher, Joel Dryden

Alberta pioneered industrial carbon pricing. Now, Poilievre says he'd kill the federal mandate for it

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith welcomed a promise from the Conservative Party of Canada on Monday to eliminate the federal backstop on industrial carbon pricing, if it were to form the next federal government. Although it appears unlikely the province would abandon its longstanding pricing system altogether. "We fully support Pierre Poilievre's commitment to return jurisdictional authority back to the provinces...

Robson Fletcher

Is 13 too young to work? A Saskatchewan proposal has reignited debate around kids and labour

Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce wants 'absolute minimum' age lowered. Saskatchewan residents are due to vote in a general election later this year and a business group in the province hopes the next government will lower the province's "absolute minimum" working age to 13 years old. In a set of pre-election policy recommendations, the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce highlights challenges from...

Robson Fletcher

What the 'inadvertent error' in the PBO's carbon tax analysis means, in as plain English as possible

The next time you feel bad about a mistake in your line of work, spare a thought for the folks at the Parliamentary Budget Office. One can only imagine the sinking feeling in their stomachs when they realized they had based their high-profile analysis of the federal fuel charge — commonly known as the carbon tax — on calculations that...

Robson Fletcher

New head of Alberta oilsands group wants clarity from Poilievre on industrial carbon pricing

'We've talked for 40 years about climate change … and we've done very, very little about it.' Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre needs to clarify where he stands on industrial carbon pricing, says the new head of a major oilsands group that aims to bring the industry's emissions to net-zero largely through the potential construction of a massive carbon-capture project that...

Robson Fletcher

The unravelling of Danielle Smith's case for Alberta's renewables pause

Internal documents contradict premier's claims; industry says it has bigger concerns. If there was any doubt remaining that Alberta's nearly seven-month moratorium on renewable-energy projects was a political decision — made in the halls of power rather than in the offices of expertise — it was erased by internal documents released to the public last week. As first reported by...

Robson Fletcher

Millions of Canadians get their carbon tax rebates today. So why do many not believe it?

About $2.3 billion in federal carbon-tax rebates will be paid out to roughly 12 million Canadians today, even though many of them may not realize it.The quarterly payments go out to every tax-filing adult household in the eight provinces where the federal carbon tax applies: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Robson Fletcher

If Canada axed its carbon tax — and rebates — this is how different households would gain or lose

High-income households would tend to be the biggest winners, lower-income households hurt the most. "Axe the tax" (or its American counterpart, "ax the tax") has been used as a slogan in countless political campaigns over the decades.It's a simple message, often a popular one and, hey, it rhymes.

Robson Fletcher

What the guy who got into a shouting match with Danielle Smith at a climate conference thinks of the exchange

Derek Power didn't come to Alberta expecting to get into a shouting match with the premier of the province. But when he found himself in that situation, he decided to roll with it. "I've always been a bit of a loud mouth," he said with a laugh, the day after his heated exchange with Premier Danielle Smith made headlines and...