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 check what must happen at what point.
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 second sentence of the last paragraph. Look at what the writer takes from Egan and what comes after “but”.
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. Read what the backlash could do at the end of it.
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. Read his first sentence, not the “Yet” sentence after it.
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 he did and for how long, 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.
