Conservative epiphany on carbon pricing, or, Conservatives unveil loyalty-card style of carbon pricing  (April 16).

Re: Conservative epiphany on carbon pricing, or, Conservatives unveil loyalty-card style of carbon pricing  (April 16).

It’s no disgrace to change your mind, when you finally see stark reality. Conservatives have done it before.

British Conservatives, under Winston Churchill, voted against the National Health Service 21 times in the course of its passing. Boris Johnson, the current (Conservative) prime minister used support for the NHS (more money for it) in arguments for Brexit.

In Canada, both Liberals and Conservatives in Saskatchewan voted against Tommy Douglas’s early Medicare measures, access to doctors regardless of ability to pay. Then in 1965, Liberal prime minister, Lester Pearson, took Saskatchewan’s Medicare to the whole country, with the support of the Conservatives as well as the NDP.

Canada’s Conservatives should know that British Conservatives were staunch supporters of action on climate change, including a carbon tax. The U.K. has indeed reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 40% since 1990, while our emissions have gone up 20%.

Lynn McDonald, CM

Co-founder, JustEarth: A Coalition for Environmental Justice

419 Carlton St.

Toronto ON

M5A 2M3

416 944-9334

(also a former NDP MP and environment critic)