Gravel & the Carbon Tax
May 18, 2024
Not many people give a whole lot of thought to gravel. It is on the shoulders of the highway, on the surface of rural roads and parking lots. It is used to make concrete and to backfill around basements. All in all, it’s a handy but unsung commodity.
There is a lot of gravel in northern Ontario. The last glacial period saw the ice moving south scouring the land right down to bedrock. Imagine a mile thick river of ice creeping forward across the landscape. Wooly mammoths may have enjoyed the temperature, but most creatures fled southward seeking warmer climes, much like the modern snowbirds with their travel trailers.
The weight of the glaciers crushed a lot of rock to create everything from sand and gravel to boulders. As the climate warmed and glaciers melted, sub-glacial rivers moved the crushed rock along to make large low hills called drumlins and the longer more ridge like deposits called eskers. These tend to occur in southern Ontario. The south also received all of the top soil from the north, leaving us with sand and gravel across most of the landscape. Generally, if you are not standing on a rocky hill, or knee deep in a swamp, or in your boat, then you are in an area with sand, gravel and boulders, hidden by leaf litter, some thin top soil and covered in trees. Clay is pretty common as well, but that is another story.
With all the gravel in the north, you might think it is fair game for any resident to go and help him or herself. No so. You must have a commercial aggregate license. Now, I need some gravel to fill in potholes, and I am kind of mad after being told, rather pointedly, that if I continue to shovel gravel from a convenient roadside pit that I may be charged under the Aggregate Act.
You see, even gravel has legal standing in Ontario. Since gravel is almost everywhere in northern Ontario, it is difficult to understand why all one hundred percent is reserved for the big guys. But all the decisions are made in Toronto. When they need advice on something they call up the major players. In gravel, these would be the owners of big commercial pits. No one even considers asking the average citizen of the province.
Now, coming back to Lonesome Lake and my thin slice of shoreline. There is a decent roadside pit about two miles away, the round trip with my pickup, shovel and assorted five gallon pails is four miles. Back in the day, I was considered one of the smarter kids in math class. To up the mathematics game slightly, it is fifty miles one way to the nearest licensed pit. That is (wait for it) one hundred miles round trip or about 274 kilometers.
So, the province insists we drive the hundred miles, buy lots of fuel, and pay gasoline at the pump. The tax on fuel pays for road and bridge maintenance and some lovely trips for government ministers. Now, while the province has this all worked out, the federal government, also headquartered in Ontario, wants you to either pay the carbon tax on that gasoline or to hop onto the Green Revolution and get yourself a Tesla.
In a way, both levels of government offer the citizenry a choice. In Ontario, you can pay for commercial gravel or go to jail for stealing it, where in striped pajamas you may find yourself breaking boulders down into gravel with a very heavy hammer. The feds options are more subtle, pay carbon tax to drive your gas guzzling pickup truck, or drop about six figures to go electric. They take no responsibility for my bank account being five point nine figures short.
To be fair, the Ontario government is located in Toronto, a big busy city with too much traffic, too many people and too much fast food. The summer is too hot and the winter too damp and cold. It is no wonder the people we pay to run the province can’t think straight half the time. They need to get out of the city and move the whole business to Orillia. The federal government is in Ottawa and on, not too surprisingly, the Ottawa River. It is a much nicer city with a better climate. All this makes it harder to understand their decisions.
In theory, the federal carbon tax reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emissions which in turn helps reduce glacial melting and coral reef die off. In the meantime, the money collected can be funneled into green energy projects such as lithium batteries.
All in all, these are fine, very big picture Canadian ideas. Our flag waving neighbours to the south can only dream of such far sighted, right minded planning. The idea is to move Canadians away from driving their own cars everywhere (while ignoring public transportation) to driving their new e-cars everywhere (while ignoring public transportation). Right away you can see serious, thought provoking advantages.
Think of it as quitting cigarettes to improve your health while taking up cigars.
Ricky
PS. I can’t help but reminisce about the good old days when the Rhinoceros Party was a real contender to win a Canadian election. True, they never won any seats, but they were popular. Their idea to move the Rocky Mountains to eastern Canada was a big hit. Laugh if you wish, but the Government of Ontario, with an eye on gas tax revenues, would be happy if the entire fleet of really big trucks, with really big fuel tanks was sent west on a mission to bring back one or two of those mountains, piece by piece.
PPS. Lots of rain of late. The ground is nice and squishy, every hollow is full of water. Sales of rubber boots are up. Mosquito larvae are happy, ducks are happy, and the robins are ecstatic. Worms have been rushing above ground to escape drowning, poor wee things, only to be picked off by red breasted killers. There is more than a little Velociraptor at work, "When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin' along."
Earl, at the hardware store, says this song came out in 1926 and was sung by everyone from Al Jolson to Doris Day. I asked if he had a copy for sale, and he directed me to the hammers and nails section at the back of the store. There is a bit of school teacher lurking in Earl’s personality.