Correct Answer: how fast carbon-price relief for industry should shrink
Passage Reference: keep shrinking the carbon-price relief it gives heavy industry
Why this is correct: The columnist argues about how fast the carbon-price relief for heavy industry should shrink. Every person quoted gives a view on that pace.
Tips: For a “mainly about” question, read the first sentence of the column. Then check that each speaker argues about the same thing.
Why the other options are wrong:
- whether households should keep their rebates: Household rebates come up only in Thiessen’s point about timing, not as the question being debated.
- why steel towns are losing young workers: Steel towns appear in Landers’s concern about plant closures, but young workers leaving is never discussed.
- how cement is made in modern plants: Cement plants are mentioned only as examples in Egan’s data, not as the topic.
Correct Answer: Dante Bello
Passage Reference: a steep decline could push production to countries with weaker rules, which would lift emissions worldwide
Why this is correct: Dante Bello warns that a steep decline could push production to countries with weaker rules. That would lift emissions worldwide even as Canada’s own figures improved.
Tips: Two speakers warn against sudden cuts, so read both warnings closely. Check whose worry is about where production goes.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Yael Egan: Yael Egan wants steep cuts on a fixed schedule, so she is not the one warning about moving emissions abroad.
- Mika Thiessen: Mika Thiessen also warns against sudden cuts. But her danger is rising prices and a political backlash at home, not emissions moving elsewhere.
- Avi Landers: Avi Landers worries about towns whose plants fail the standard, not about production shifting to other countries.
Correct Answer: data showing some plants already beat their benchmarks
Passage Reference: facility data already show which cement and fertilizer plants lead their sectors and which lag
Why this is correct: Egan says facility data already show which plants lead their sectors. So data showing some plants already beat their benchmarks would support her call for steeper cuts.
Tips: Find Egan’s main argument and the reason behind it. Pick the choice that would make that reason stronger.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a survey of how long supply contracts take: Contract length is Bello’s reason for a slower pace, so this survey would help him, not Egan.
- a study of price jumps after sudden cuts: Price jumps after sudden cuts back Thiessen’s case for gradual tightening, which works against Egan’s steep schedule.
- a list of towns that depend on one plant: Towns that depend on a plant support Landers’s demand for transition money, not Egan’s schedule.
Correct Answer: money for affected towns would be set aside beforehand
Passage Reference: set aside transition money, in advance, for towns whose plants cannot meet the tougher standard
Why this is correct: Landers will not support any design that fails to set aside transition money in advance. The money is for towns whose plants cannot meet the tougher standard.
Tips: Landers’s condition starts with “Yet he will not support”. Read that sentence to the end and match its condition.
Why the other options are wrong:
- benchmarks would stop tightening after one year: Landers accepts a declining benchmark, so stopping the decline is not what his condition asks for.
- workers would receive the rebates directly: Landers asks for money for affected towns, not for rebates paid to workers.
- every mill would be guaranteed to stay open: Landers plans for towns whose plants cannot meet the standard, so he does not expect every mill to stay open.
Correct Answer: keen on the path but not the pace
Passage Reference: The benchmarks should tighten every year on a published path, as Egan wants, but at Thiessen’s gradual pace
Why this is correct: The writer wants the benchmarks to tighten every year on a published path, as Egan wants. But the pace should be Thiessen’s gradual one rather than Egan’s steep one.
Tips: For a view question, read the last paragraph. Note how the columnist talks about Egan’s schedule, then test each choice.
Why the other options are wrong:
- fully behind it, pace included: The columnist rejects Egan’s steep pace in favour of Thiessen’s gradual one.
- opposed to any fixed schedule: The last paragraph asks for a published path every year, which is a fixed schedule.
- unsure, since the data are unclear: Egan’s data are never questioned, and the view in the last paragraph is clear.
Correct Answer: earn credits they can sell
Passage Reference: plants that beat the benchmark earn credits they can sell
Why this is correct: The column explains that plants that beat the benchmark earn credits they can sell.
Tips: The comment asks what plants that beat the benchmark get. The first paragraph explains the system, so read to the end of that sentence.
Why the other options are wrong:
- pay a smaller fee each year: Plants that beat the benchmark earn credits. The column does not describe a yearly fee for them.
- must close older furnaces: Nothing in the column forces efficient plants to close furnaces.
- get their taxes back in cash: The reward described is credits they can sell, not a cash tax refund.
Correct Answer: delays the switch to electric equipment
Passage Reference: quietly delays the switch to electric equipment
Why this is correct: Egan argues that relief without a declining path quietly delays the switch to electric equipment.
Tips: The comment calls her “the analyst”, so find Egan’s lines. Look for the word “quietly” and read what endless relief does.
Why the other options are wrong:
- raises the price of steel abroad: Foreign steel prices are never part of Egan’s argument.
- helps mills hire more young workers: Hiring is never mentioned in Egan’s point about endless relief.
- costs households more than it saves: Household costs come from Thiessen’s point about timing, not from Egan’s warning.
Correct Answer: freeze climate policy for years
Passage Reference: the backlash could freeze climate policy for years
Why this is correct: Thiessen notes that a sudden cut could raise producer prices and that the backlash could freeze climate policy for years.
Tips: The comment names Thiessen, so go back to the “If” sentence in her lines. Match what she says a sudden cut could do.
Why the other options are wrong:
- close every cement plant at once: Thiessen warns about prices and politics, not about closing every cement plant.
- cut the value of the dollar: The dollar’s value is never mentioned in the column.
- end the rebates to households: Thiessen says households feel the rebates too late, not that the rebates would end.
Correct Answer: accepts a declining benchmark in principle
Passage Reference: says he accepts a declining benchmark in principle
Why this is correct: Landers, a union representative for steelworkers, says he accepts a declining benchmark in principle.
Tips: The comment calls him the steelworkers’ representative, so find his lines at the end of the third paragraph. Match what he says to a choice.
Why the other options are wrong:
- wants relief frozen at today’s level: Landers accepts a declining benchmark, so he does not want relief frozen.
- opposes any price on emissions: Landers accepts a declining benchmark, which only makes sense inside a price on emissions.
- asks for the mills to be sold: Selling the mills is never suggested by anyone in the column.
Correct Answer: poured steel in Hamilton for decades
Passage Reference: My grandfather spent thirty-one years pouring steel in Hamilton
Why this is correct: In the first paragraph, the writer says the grandfather spent thirty-one years pouring steel in Hamilton.
Tips: The grandfather appears in the first paragraph. Read what the writer says about him, then look for the same idea in shorter words.
Why the other options are wrong:
- ran a machine shop in Welland: The Welland machine shop belongs to the commenter, not to the columnist’s grandfather.
- sold scrap metal to the mills: The grandfather worked in a steel mill. Nothing is said about scrap metal.
- taught welding at a college: The column says the grandfather poured steel, not that he taught welding.
