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Pollution Pricing Posse Toolkit

Welcome to our posse of pollution-pricing defenders. It’s a brave decision to join us. Pollution pricing has attracted more controversy while it's becoming more important than ever. By standing together, we'll remind Canadians of our shared responsibility to clean up the messes we make, because we all want to leave a healthy planet for our kids and future generations.

In this toolkit you'll find:

The best thing about working as a posse is you're not alone. We're here to support you. If you have any questions, concerns or feedback, please contact us.

OUR GOAL

We are standing in the way of the ‘axe the tax’ bandwagon by changing how Canadians talk about pollution pricing.

Our posse is calling on Canadians to stand up for a shared value: “If you make a mess, clean it up.” This principle is the bedrock not just for carbon pricing, but action on plastic waste, air and water pollution, and myriad other problems. That bedrock will crack if it becomes acceptable to only pay for pollution messes when it seems convenient. 

We must keep this principle on cultural life support, no matter what the fate of carbon pricing in the next federal election. At stake is the wellbeing of the young people we love — our kids and grandkids, nieces and nephews, cousins and neighbours. Young Canadians are telling us how urgent it is to act: 78% say climate change affects their mental health, and almost half believe governments are betraying them and future generations (globally the number is even higher). 

Too many Canadians have forgotten why most of us supported pollution pricing in the first place: if we don't pay for pollution now, our kids will pay more dearly later.

"Axe the tax" gained momentum by tapping into anxiety about rising prices, leading us to talk about pollution pricing as a consumer choice that we can abandon when times are tough. Pollution-pricing defenders responded with math lessons about tax rebates.

That strategy hasn't changed enough minds. We need to change people's hearts.

To do that, you don't need to brush up on the latest research or understand the complexities of carbon pricing schemes. Our strategy is to shift conversations away from affordability, back to our deep-seated, shared desire to care for those who follow in our footsteps. 

There are better ways to make life affordable, but there's no better planet to protect for our kids and future generations. We win by making more Canadians think about pollution pricing like good ancestors, not good consumers.

Now is a hard time to take on this ambitious quest. Opposition is intense, and it can be nasty. We need to jump in together, so others know they're not alone if they decide to stand up for pollution pricing. As our posse grows, we'll give more politicians courage to govern like good ancestors too, knowing we have their backs.

This toolkit will empower Canadians of all ages to remind others why we need to take responsibility for paying for our pollution messes: to leave a healthy planet for those who follow in our footsteps, so they are able to enjoy the safety and natural wonders we hold sacred today.

Why do we use the term "pollution pricing," instead of "carbon tax"?

Using the term "pollution pricing" emphasizes the purpose of this climate action: making polluters pay the price for their mess, instead of passing the cost on to others, in this case our kids and future generations. Putting a price on carbon and other pollutants creates an incentive for polluters to make less. Calling it a "tax" distracts from this and triggers negative feelings in many people, who think of taxation as a financial burden. It's no coincidence "axe the tax" was used decades ago as a catchy slogan to fight GST.

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KEY MESSAGES

These simple and compelling messages can be used as is or adapted to fit your needs. Younger posse members: use these messages to call on your elders to become better ancestors, because they love you and are invested in securing your healthy future. 

Core message

We pay for our pollution because we love our kids and grandkids, our nieces and nephews, our young cousins, friends and neighbours. We owe it to them to do all we can right now to protect the planet their lives will depend on, long after we're gone. We can't let them down by making them pay more dearly for the pollution our politicians don't want to pay for today.

Taking responsibility for our pollution messes

  • We teach our kids about their responsibility to clean up messy rooms and toys. We should live by the same wisdom when it comes to pollution messes that put their health and safety in jeopardy.
  • If you make a mess, clean it up. That’s a responsibility my [mom/dad/parent/family] taught me. Politicians betray this family value when they tell us that it’s ok to mortgage our kids' future, asking them to clean up after us because we won’t take responsibility for our pollution today.

Reducing risks for our kids

  • There’s no escaping that our kids’ health and safety are put in jeopardy when we pollute too much. Since they can’t vote, they’re trusting us to do more — not less — to make sure we leave them a healthy environment. This means urgently reducing our smog and trash, and paying for our pollution — present and past.
  • Nobody wants to worry that we’re harming our kids when we burn fossil fuels to take them to soccer practice or heat our homes in winter. That’s why it’s easy to believe leaders when they tell us we don’t need to pay for our pollution. But axing the tax doesn’t really let us off the hook. Climate change disasters are already costing us money, and if we ignore the problem now, our kids will have to pay even more down the road.
  • Choosing whether to pay for our pollution isn’t like deciding between the no-name or premium brand — it’s not a consumer preference. It’s more like handing over your maxed-out credit card bill to your kids, with full knowledge that climate change charges devastatingly high interest on the overdue debt.
  • No one will engrave on their tombstone, “I’m proud I didn’t pay for my pollution.” But we might write, “I tried to be a Good Ancestor to those who follow me.” That means acting today to make sure our kids can enjoy summers without smoke, winters with snow for skiing, water they can drink, and natural spaces and wildlife with which they can live in awe.

Countering misinformation about living costs and pollution pricing

  • Politicians proposing to cut the carbon price might save us from guilt, but they won’t save us much money. For every dollar we spend on life’s basics, the price on pollution adds less than one cent.
  • The pain of inflation is real for too many Canadians, but we’re being duped when our leaders tell us that the reason for this pain is pollution pricing. They’re counting on us to ignore the evidence, so they can keep claiming ‘axe the tax’ as an easy answer — and sidestep the challenge of real and lasting affordability solutions. Let’s hold our politicians accountable for more.
  • Our wallet problems can’t be solved by eliminating the price on pollution. We solve wallet problems with good policies that make child care, housing and postsecondary more affordable.
  • Political leaders are trying to convince us that it’s not urgent to pay for our pollution. But just like a credit card bill, the only choice we really have is between paying off as much as we can now — or paying even more later, as interest grows.
  • Every dollar we commit to reducing our pollution earns us big returns. Our investments in a safe and healthy future for our kids come back to us twofold in what we save on the costs of medical care alone.

A positive vision

Good ancestors learn to pollute less. We embrace the clean, inexpensive solutions that will lead to the thriving future we all want for children. A price on pollution helps get us there.

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CONVERSATION STARTERS

Not sure how to kick off a conversation about this charged topic? Start with messages that most Canadians agree with, rooted in values that we share.

We all want our kids to be healthy and safe, today and in the future…

We all share a desire to make sure our kids can be healthy and safe. That’s why I’m alarmed to learn that so many young people feel betrayed and abandoned by our response to growing climate risks and costs. Is that really what we want our kids to think?

Families work hard in so many ways to protect their kids/grandkids. So how can we let them down in the most basic of ways — making sure they have clean air, water and a safe and healthy future? It’s unfair to leave younger generations to cope with climate anxiety and risk their mental health when we know there’s more we can do right now. Paying for our pollution is a step we can all take to show our kids that we care about their futures.

Just as doctors respond urgently when a patient’s vital signs deteriorate, we need politicians to take action to restore the Earth’s deteriorating vital signs.

There are nine planetary boundaries we cannot cross without undermining Earth’s life support systems. Our pollution and resource extraction have already pushed us past six of those boundaries, putting biodiversity, climate stability and freshwater at risk. And we’re on course to overshoot two more, harming the oceans and atmosphere on which we depend.

Reining in our pollution — and cleaning up the messes we’ve already made — is the emergency care our planet needs. Paying for our pollution is the life-saving intervention that will help us get there.

We don’t want political leaders to gamble with our kids' future…

I want to know why politicians calling for a ‘carbon tax election’ are willing to betray our kids. Why do they expect our children to pay dearly for the pollution that they are unwilling to pay for today?

If we follow their example, the next time a parent walks into their kids’ messy room, they’ll say: “You made this mess. Now… just clean up some of it, and only if it’s not too hard, and only if every other kid cleans her room too because what difference does one messy room make? Actually, is this mess even real? Really, who cares — just leave it for the next kid who sleeps in this room to clean up.”

Every parent who skewered their foot on a toy this morning or tripped over a pile of dirty laundry knows that’s no way to run a household — and it’s no way to run our country. Shouldn’t our leaders know better?

No one wants to be a vandal, someone who willfully causes damage but leaves cleanup costs to others. So why do some politicians want to turn us into vandals, telling us it’s ok to willfully damage the future we leave to our kids? Refusing to pay for our pollution means condemning our kids to lives filled with more and more unnatural disasters. It’s pollution we all make that helps fuel wildfires, droughts and increasingly powerful storms. Paying for this pollution is the way we can invest in solutions.

I want my kids to have the freedom to choose the future they want, the same way I did. It’s not fair for our politicians to make decisions today that will take these choices away. When politicians refuse to pay for our pollution, they rob our kids of the choice to play in summers without smoke, winters with snow, water they can drink, and so many other gifts from the planet on which they depend for their health, safety and livelihoods.

We want to leave this place better than we found it…

I want my kids and grandkids to look back at my generation with respect and admiration, not anger and resentment. But it’s fair for them to be angry if we don't do all we can to reduce unnatural extreme weather and other climate damage right now. We’ve made the mess, so now we need to clean it up. We still have a chance to leave this proud legacy for our kids and grandkids, nieces and nephews. Paying for our pollution helps us get there.

With so many fires, floods, heat waves and damaging storms, it's hard not to worry about whether my kids will have the same opportunities I did. They’re losing things I never had to think about. Playing outside in summers without smoke. Skiing and skating in cold enough winters. Landscapes and wildlife that inspire awe. We do all we can to protect our kids in our homes and schools, so why not do all we can to protect their environment too? We can help our kids to thrive by paying for the pollution messes we’ve made, past and present.

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RESPONDING TO NAYSAYERS

Once you take the brave step of starting a conversation…then what? Worried you won’t know how to respond to a question? You don’t need to study the latest research, or wade into the math on carbon tax rebates. These responses to common "what-about-isms" can help you navigate pollution-pricing arguments with family, friends or even elected representatives.

“We can’t afford the carbon tax — it’s making everything more expensive…”

Don’t get played by fake news. Economists have found that the carbon tax adds less than 1% to the cost of everyday expenses like rent, food and clothing. Will saving 1% make a real difference for you? Not for most of us. But paying for our pollution can make a big difference for our kids and future generations. They will inherit the bills we leave unpaid today — along with the devastatingly high interest climate change charges in the form of extreme weather, food insecurity, and new disease risks.

Being able to afford the basics matters. It’s hard to focus on anything else when you’re struggling to pay the rent or cover the cost of groceries. We urgently need our politicians to solve these problems — and they can, with policies that improve affordability for housing, child care, education, medications and more. "Axing" pollution pricing will benefit wealthiest households much more than people who are struggling. We should expect politicians to deliver real affordability solutions — not distract us with slogans.

Economists around the world agree that carbon pricing is one of the most effective and efficient tools in our toolbox. Anyone who’s tackled their own repair project knows that using the tools best suited to the job helps make the work go more smoothly. When you have nails to drive, would you listen to people telling you that the wrench and the saw are effective options — or would you just get out the hammer? I can’t imagine looking our kids in the eyes and telling them that we didn’t preserve clean air, water and a healthy planet for them because we didn't use the best tools we had.

We can’t afford NOT to pay for our pollution. Droughts, wildfires, floods — all made worse by climate change — are already making food more expensive, homes uninsurable, and increasing the burden on our medical system. Costs will only continue to go up for our kids and future generations in years to come if we don’t take responsibility for cleaning up our pollution now.

 

“Taxes won’t reduce carbon pollution…”

Of course, carbon pricing itself doesn’t reduce pollution. Income taxes also don’t deliver medical care, but they sure are essential to sustaining our medical care system.

Paying for our pollution motivates those who pollute the most to find ways to make less of a mess by giving us more choices. We can continue to choose high-polluting options, and pay a bit more. Or we can make choices that result in less pollution – decisions that often save us money in the short and long term — and help make sure our kids aren’t left to deal with the growing climate risks and costs that we’re creating.

Some politicians are telling us that putting a price on pollution doesn’t make sense because ‘taxes don’t change the weather’. Thank goodness this same thinking doesn’t hold when it comes to paying for medical care. Our tax dollars don’t make us healthy, but the medical services they pay for sure do help treat the illnesses and injuries that drag down our wellbeing.

Pollution absolutely does change the weather, fuelling fires, droughts and increasingly violent storms. Pollution increases illness, brings new disease risks, and harms our mental health. And pollution accelerates the loss of clean water, healthy forests, food security, and the natural spaces we love. Paying for our pollution gives us all a reason to pollute less, lessening the risks we’re facing today — risks that will only grow in the future for our kids.

For those who want to dive deeper into the evidence, see the resources at the end for some links to recent studies showing the efficacy of carbon pricing as a policy tool.

 

“It isn’t fair to raise taxes at a time when living costs are so high…”

For most of us, pollution pricing adds one penny more to everyday expenses like rent, food and clothing. How many pennies would you pay to secure the future wellbeing of the young people we love? Science shows that fossil fuels are a far bigger driver of inflation and rising living costs than the carbon price. Shifting away from these volatile energy sources will help us save money and insulate the economy from future fossil-fuel inflation.

When we let the price on carbon be used as a scapegoat, we take the pressure off governments to implement real solutions to unaffordability. We already know what these solutions are. We can make life more affordable by reconnecting earnings with housing prices, reducing child care costs, boosting supports for young families, and ratcheting down the cost of education. Forfeiting healthy environments for our kids isn’t a responsible or effective path to savings.

Folk wisdom cautions us against being ‘penny wise and pound foolish’ — stingy when it comes to small amounts, but wasteful with large ones. When it comes to our pollution, we’d be wise to heed this advice. Carbon pricing costs us pennies. Heat waves, droughts, wildfires and increasingly destructive storms cost us plenty, in rebuilding communities and infrastructure, in restoring lost livelihoods, and in our health and wellbeing. The price our kids will pay if we refuse to clean up our messes past and present is so much greater than what we’re being asked. Good ancestors can invest now in ways that will pay off for our kids and grandkids. We’re the last generation who will have this chance, so let’s not waste it.

 

“Industries with big profits and bigger carbon footprints aren't paying their fair share for pollution, so why should I?”

Yup, those big emitters definitely should pay! It’s unfair for them to take advantage of Canada’s resource wealth, without also paying their fair share. That’s why our industrial carbon price policy is so important, and why we need to stop sending money to big emitters in the form of subsidies — and find out if they can really compete on a level playing field. We need governments to do more to keep corporate polluters in line.

But let’s not lie to ourselves. We everyday Canadians are also big emitters. In fact, we pollute more than most people in most other countries. We may not like to. We might not want to. But we should be honest about it when the stakes are so high. We contribute far more than our fair share to the global pollution load — and to the unnatural disasters it’s already causing. So while we’re making sure that big business in Canada (and abroad) steps up, we can also make changes in our own lives — whatever ones are available to us. That includes paying for our pollution.

 

“A carbon tax in Canada won’t make a difference to global emissions overall…”

Imagine this. You’re walking in the woods with your child, and you come across a place where people have left garbage scattered around. Your child throws her garbage on the ground too, and walks away. Do you think it’s ok for her to add garbage to the pile just because someone has already left a mess? Probably not, because others’ actions don’t take away from our sense of personal responsibility to do what we think is right. I find it hard to believe that many would think willful polluting is ok.

So why would it be ok for Canadians to continue throwing our carbon pollution onto the global pile — and at such an outsized rate? Among nations that emit the most greenhouse gasses, Canadians are the second biggest polluters. It’s only because there are fewer of us that our contribution to total global emissions is smaller than that of countries like China and India — whose citizens pollute less than we do.

Like all global citizens, Canadians have a responsibility to do more, not less, to make sure we leave a healthy planet for our kids and for future generations. When we fail to pay for our pollution, we take choices away from them — because they will pay even more dearly down the road for what we’ve neglected today.

 

“Canadians never supported pollution pricing…”

Nope! Just a few short years ago, most of us agreed that paying for our pollution was an important part of our climate plan. Don’t just take our word for it — check out polls from this time. For example, in 2019 more than three-quarters of Canadians agreed that pollution pricing should be included in a national plan to combat climate change. That included a majority in every region of the country — and a majority of voters for all major political parties.

That may be hard to believe now, when pollution price opposition dominates the airwaves. But even today, there’s reason to question whether "axe the tax" really reflects what many of us believe.

In August 2024, 19% of Canadians said that they would NEVER vote for a political party proposing to eliminate the price on pollution. That’s over six million Canadian adults. Another 16% aren’t sure what they think about pollution pricing, and 28% haven’t decided if this issue will shape their vote.

In other words, almost 2/3 of Canadians aren’t obviously on the "Axe the Tax" bandwagon. Clearly there are plenty of potential allies out there for good ancestors committed to taking responsibility for cleaning up our pollution messes.

2019

2024

 

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JOIN THE SOCIAL MEDIA CONVERSATION

Do you have a following on social media? Do you belong to online communities that discuss climate or affordability issues? Please help us spread the word about why good ancestors pay for their pollution, and spark new conversation and debate.

Follow us for our latest graphics and videos, and amplify our posts by liking and sharing them on your channels. (And feel free to help defend us from the trolls we know we will attract.) It’s worth tagging us and key elected officials on anything you share, to make sure they recognize that there are people willing to clean up our pollution messes so that we leave a healthy legacy for our kids.

Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
BlueSky

Here are a few examples of social media messages and visuals you can use.

Graphics

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Videos

Memes

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WRITE AN OP-ED OR LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Consider writing an op-ed or letter to the editor to praise or critique articles that reference pollution pricing. This can be a good and easy way to introduce other readers (and journalists!) to good ancestor pollution price messaging.

An op-ed is a short (500-700 word) letter to a newspaper expressing a position on a newsworthy topic. You can find lots of advice on how to write op-eds online, but here’s one resource you might want to check out for climate-related op-eds. Op-eds can be more powerful when they include personal stories to illustrate an issue, so consider how you might add your own climate experiences or worries into the mix.

Letters to the editor are short reactions to an already published article. They often have very tight word limits, and it’s important to stick to them to give your letter the best chance of being printed. And don’t forget to refer to the article to which you’re responding.

Both op-eds and letters can be submitted to national or local papers — and both are worthwhile. You might have success with local papers if you can link your writing to a current local issue.

To get the creative juices flowing, here are a few paragraphs (149 words) to kick things off. You could also use this template to share with organizations you support, to encourage them to talk about pollution pricing in their newsletters or other work.

If you make a mess, you should clean it up. Most parents have probably said that to their kids at some point. It’s a solid family value that teaches personal responsibility. We see people living up to this commitment all the time when they help victims of wildfire and flood damage.

Politicians make it harder to teach this family value when they say it’s okay not to pay for our pollution — that adults can just leave their messes for their kids to clean up. But we don’t really have a choice between paying or not paying for our pollution. Our only choice is between paying less now, or leaving our kids and future generations to pay more later.

We pay for our pollution because we love our kids and grandchildren, nieces and nephews. It’s a duty we owe them — and we betray their health and safety when we don’t.

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THANK POLLUTION PRICE DEFENDERS

Politicians often hear about what they’re doing wrong (and let’s face it, they do make this easy). But because it’s unusual, it can be powerful to tell them what they’re doing right. Thanking them by mail or email — or publicly on social media — will bolster their courage to continue standing up for pollution pricing. 

🗣️ Remember: the loud, well-funded voices of the fossil-fuel industry are sharing their perspective with policy makers. You should too!

Who should you thank? So far, the federal Liberal and Green parties remain in support of pollution pricing. We created a top 5 list of defenders below, but we also encourage you to voice your support to your local Member of Parliament, if they've defended pollution pricing too. Email addresses for all Members can be found using the Parliament of Canada search tool. 

Politician 
Email
Social media

Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister (Liberal)

 Email
Instagram: @justinpjtrudeau
X: @CanadianPM
Facebook: @JustinPJTrudeau

Chrystia Freeland
Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Finance (Liberal)

 Email
Instagram: @chrystiafreeland
X: @cafreeland
Facebook: @freelandchrystia

Steven Guilbeault
Minister of Environment & Climate Change (Liberal)

 Email
Instagram: @stevenguilbeault
X: @s_guilbeault
Facebook: @steven.guilbeault

Elizabeth May
MP & Green Party Leader

 Email
Instagram: @elizabethemay
X: @ElizabethMay
Facebook: @ElizabethMaySGI

Mike Morrice
MP (Green)

 Email
Instagram: @morricemike
X: @morricemike
Facebook: @morricemike

Social media graphics

Here's a "thank you card" you can share on social media, and use the letter template below for message inspiration. Be sure to tag pollution price defenders using their social media handles!

If you prefer email, you can use, expand or adapt the template below to create a thank-you letter to politicians who are supporting pollution pricing.

Thank you message template

<<Date>>

<<Salutation>>

If you make a mess, you should clean it up. That’s a responsibility <<my mom/parent/family>> taught me. Thank you for defending this family value by standing firm in defense of the price on pollution.

Paying for our pollution is a duty we owe our kids and grandkids, our nieces and nephews, and all the generations who follow in their footsteps. There’s no escaping that their health and safety are in jeopardy because we’ve polluted too much. That’s why it’s our responsibility to clean up our pollution messes, past and present. We betray our kids when we don’t.

I applaud your decision to stand up for pollution pricing, and hope I can continue to count on you to raise your voice right now. Later is too late. Medical schools and public health leaders across the country identify climate change as the greatest risk to human health in the 21st century. Climate risks and costs only continue to rise, burdening future generations with growing debt. Eliminating the pollution price would be like handing off your maxed-out credit card bill to your grandkids, knowing full well that climate change will charge devastatingly high interest on the overdue debt.

Paying for our pollution is what good ancestors do. I’m part of a movement sharing this message — and I invite you to join us. No one is going to engrave on their tombstone: “I didn’t pay for my pollution.” But some of us might write: “I tried to be a Good Ancestor,” by preserving summers without smoke, winters with ice and snow, and landscapes and wildlife that inspire awe.

Please spread the word about our movement to others who you think are committed to leaving a proud legacy. Canada’s kids are trusting us to do more (not less) to preserve a healthy environment.

Thank you again for your pollution pricing leadership.

<<Your name, signature and contact information>>

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SHARE YOUR STORIES

Stories are powerful. They can motivate people to think differently about an issue, and they can prompt elected officials to think differently about the policies Canada needs. The facts only go so far… bringing data to life with stories is an important part of making change.

That’s why we’re encouraging you to share stories with us. Your personal story about why paying for our pollution matters, or stories you’re hearing from others about what it means to be a good ancestor.

We regularly share the stories of our supporters with elected officials as part of our efforts to call for more intergenerationally fair policies — so we know what a difference they can make.

We’re also regularly asked to put journalists in touch with people willing to speak on the record about current issues, to make their reporting more relatable and compelling. If you might be willing to talk to a reporter, please let us know. It’s really helpful to have a bank of people ready to respond to media requests.

Share your story with us

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INSPIRATION & RESOURCES

We're not alone! There are many more pollution-price defenders across Canada and around the world.

Around the world

  • Nobel prize winning research from William Nordhaus shows that people pollute more when pollution is free.
  • Experts who studied the impact of carbon pricing approaches around the world found that “introducing a carbon price has yielded immediate and substantial emission reductions for at least 17 of these policies, despite the low level of prices in most instances.” This finding is echoed in another recent comprehensive study of decades of global climate policy.
  • The World Bank states that through the application of carbon taxes, “the overall environmental goal is achieved in the most flexible and least-cost way to society.”
  • The World Health Organization prescribes a price on pollution so that we stop paying the pollution bill through our lungs, and through our wallets as a result of the damage, injury and death caused by extreme weather.

In Canada

We're especially grateful to Roman Krznaric and his book, "The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short-Term World." Krznaric's work inspired our messaging for this toolkit, and we're indebted to him for popularizing the idea of good ancestry.

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