April’s carbon tax hikes were as popular as a skunk at a garden party.

Everyday Canadians are already wrestling with persistent inflation and higher interest rates, stacked on top of unaffordable housing, stagnant real wages and declining per capita GDP.

Most premiers across Canada have read the room. They’ve called for a First Minister’s meeting to discuss carbon taxes and affordability. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has challenged them to come up with something better.

At worst, this standoff will lead only to performative political posturing that pits environment against affordability.

At best, though, it’s an opportunity to rebalance Canada’s climate leadership with the needs of everyday people and families. To do that we must move past false dichotomies, stop settling for faulty math and start putting forward common sense solutions.

Climate leadership takes more than three words, but in the spirit of Spike the Hike and Axe the Tax, let’s start with Fix the Math and Stop the Fires.

“What gets measured gets managed” is a boardroom cliche for a reason – it’s true.

Equally, what doesn’t get measured often doesn’t get managed.

“Teaching to the test” skews incentives at the expense of both common sense and big picture thinking.

That’s what we do now when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, both in official policies and in our popular understanding.

Imagine you’re trying to get in shape by counting........

© BIV