VOTERS SICK OF CLIMATE CRUSADERS

Solomon, FP: The press once cared about climate change; politicians did, too, whenever it appeared to further their political careers. But the public may never have truly cared, if election results, rather than public opinion polls, are the measure. Canada was a pioneer in proving how little the public cared when, in 2008, Liberal leader Stéphane Dion vowed to introduce a carbon tax if elected prime minister, earning the Liberals’ worst defeat since Confederation. Australia’s Labour Party in 2013 also suffered a crushing defeat when it explicitly made carbon taxes a major campaign issue. Since then, political parties — the Trudeau Liberals included — have prudently downplayed climate-policy costs during their campaigns. There won’t be any downplaying in Trudeau’s next election, though, in 2019, when his carbon taxes will be front and centre.