Energy prices are going up. Oil has hit record highs, resulting in higher transportation costs. Food prices are increasing. It is also becoming more expensive to heat homes and drive the family vehicle. And Canada doesn't even have a carbon tax. Yet, environmentalists are calling for one all the same, saying it will be economically painless. This is nonsense. The world is not melting but our standard of living soon will be if global-warming alarmists have their way.

Until now Canada's two main political parties, the governing Conservatives and Opposition Liberals, had both publicly opposed a carbon tax. Over the weekend, Liberal leader Stephane Dion announced he now favours a national tax on energy to curb consumption.

The theory behind any tax intended to alter behaviour is that if you tax something, you will get less of it. Carbon taxes are meant to get Canadians to use less energy. In fact, all they will accomplish is to make Canadians pay more.