I will never understand why they went with a carbon tax. They're so politically charged and as we have seen get a lot of people very angry. I get that a revenue neutral carbon tax is a lot cheaper and easier to implement than other policies, however I think you could find that money elsewhere.
I would personally prefer a combination of:
1: A cap and trade system, selling permits to companies to extract a certain amount oil, with a limited number of permits that reduces year after year.
2: Weening the oil industry off their subsidies, which would gradually increase prices and make it a less and less attractive option for consumers, and redirecting those funds to renewables and building a battery system.
You could create revenue through the sale of the permits and reduce spending through the reduction of subsidies, all while putting Canada on a path to an easier transition away from this horrific industry. I think this would be politically easier to do, because people see TAX and immediately think of the government taking their money. Whereas these policies would be a little bit more subtle and behind the scenes in the way they would manage the transition.
The Liberals won't do this because they went all in on the carbon tax. The Conservatives won't do it because big oil is in their pockets. I doubt the NDP would do this either, they would probably stay the course of whatever the Liberals were doing, should they gain power (extremely unlikely).
When it comes to renewables, obviously, wind and solar are big, but Canada has the potential to become a nuclear powerhouse. We have massive uranium deposits, particularly in Northern Saskatchewan. It also avoids a lot of issues O&G proponents bring up when it comes to renewables, ie: a supposed lack of reliability (a robust network of batteries would help here as well).
