By subsidizing industries like oil and gas, we are essentially financing our own destruction

Gas is more expensive than ever before — but it’s not just at the pump where we are taking the hit. What many don’t know is Canadians are also paying more for gas through our tax dollars. And when we consider the environmental impacts, that cost is even greater.

In fact, as we waste time complaining about how much it costs to fill our tanks, the Canadian government is busy pumping billions of our tax dollars into fuelling global warming. By subsidizing not only oil and gas but also animal agriculture and other harmful industries, we’re essentially financing our own destruction.

Subsidizing such industries is a global problem. New research has found that the world is spending $1.8 trillion every year on environmentally harmful subsidies that are driving species extinction and the destruction of ecosystems.

The findings are shocking, with fossil fuel, agriculture and water industries receiving more than 80 per cent of all environmentally harmful subsidies per year. The result: rising greenhouse gas emissions, depleting natural resources and degrading global ecosystems. In the wake of the latest report from the UN’s panel on climate change — which calls the environmental crisis a “code red” for humanity — there has never been a more crucial time to change how we federally fund industries...