Not My Prime Minister: Burning the food supply

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are giving billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies to corporate ethanol producers. This boondoggle won’t help farmers, the hungry, or the environment.
Ethanol won’t significantly cut oil use or CO2 emissions. At best, ethanol can reduce oil use and emissions by 2% or 3%. Properly inflated car tires will save more, for a fraction of the ethanol billions.
Ethanol won’t help farmers. The farm crisis is complex: trade agreements, corporate concentration, rights to seeds, fuel and fertilizer prices. The solution is not as simple as burning corn and wheat and hoping to trigger a price hike.
Ethanol hurts the hungry. Burning food can only exacerbate hunger.
Stephen Harper isn’t sincere about ethanol. He isn’t serious about tackling climate change or reducing oil use. He wants to expand oil production and tarsands development. That’s why he likes ethanol. It’s the smokescreen—the appearance of doing something for the environment—behind which Harper can safeguard oil company business-as-usual.

The Issues