Another chorus

What a strange but welcome confluence of Op-Ed pieces in today's newspapers.

First, Tom Axworthy writing in the Toronto Star can be summarized by its opening lines:

Stéphane Dion announced at the recent Liberal convention in Vancouver that he would be staying in politics. This is a good thing because a future Liberal government will have great need of his intelligence, commitment and stubbornness in dealing with climate change.

Elgie, Boyd, and Waddell, writing in the Globe and Mail (How a B.C. carbon tax rose from Dion's ashes) gave six lessons from the BC and Federal election results after summarizing things:

Although widely regarded - by both environmentalists and economists - as an essential tool in growing green jobs and combating climate change, many Canadian politicians perceived carbon taxes as toxic after Stéphane Dion's defeat. The results of this week's B.C. election should help put that notion to rest.

Finally Paul Berton writing in the Ottawa Sun(!) The True Costs of Car Travel wrote what many experts know all too well:

Not only should we not reduce gasoline taxes, it is inevitable, though undoubtedly unpalatable politically, that they will rise in the future to better reflect reality and the true costs of car travel [road building and maintenance, health and pollution, accidents, traffic congestion, insurance, urban sprawl]