Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must really want a carbon tax.
It’s the only logical reason for why he has decided the federal government will force feed such a tax on provinces that won’t have some form of a carbon price.
We knew that Trudeau wasn’t going to be worried about forcing it on Saskatchewan. He would ramrod it on this province, and the province would have to take the feds to court to try to defeat it.
But as more governments joined the fight against the carbon tax, including voter rich Ontario, you had to hope that Trudeau would have the good sense to back away from the carbon tax and let the provinces concoct their own systems to combat climate change.
Ontario residents don’t want a carbon tax. If they did, they wouldn’t have elected a government whose first move was to end the province’s cap and trade system.
Manitoba and New Brunswick have balked at having some form of a carbon tax. Some Atlantic provinces aren’t interested in the scheme, either. And Alberta will join the carbon tax opponents once the United Conservative Party is elected next year.
Introducing a new tax isn’t exactly a sound strategy for an unpopular prime minister to win votes.
The government also claims that Canadians will receive more money through rebates than what they pay in the tax. On the surface, that might be true, but in terms of indirect expenses, it’s not.
We’re going to pay more for fuel at service stations. We’re going to pay more for electricity and to heat our home, although Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says the feds can’t apply a carbon tax to SaskPower and SaskEnergy, since those are Crown corporations and government can’t tax another tax.
(Those who have criticized having Crown corporations in sectors such as electricity and natural gas in the past might suddenly become silent on the issue for a while if Moe is right).
But the government says we will receive rebates that will exceed the additional amount we pay for home heating and fuel for our vehicles.
We don’t know how the government will know how much to rebate us. Will we have to save all of our bills and receipts over the course of the year? Will it be based on the number of people in our household? Or will it be an abstract amount?
For those who are on fixed incomes, it’s going to be even tougher for them to make ends meet until they get that rebate from the government.
And the cost of so many items, such as groceries, will go up as well, because the cost of producing and getting the food to market will go up? Will we get a rebate for a higher cost of steak and potatoes?
Also of concern is Canada’s competitiveness on a global stage. If a company has the choice between setting up shop in Canada where there is a carbon tax, and investing in a country that doesn’t have a tax, they’ll choose the one without the carbon tax. And when our closest neighbour is the U.S., the absence of a carbon tax is an even bigger factor.
Sectors such as manufacturing and agriculture were quick to pan the carbon tax. They know there will be consequences from Trudeau’s measures.
Small business groups also see the negative consequences coming.
If we have proof that carbon taxes significantly curtailed emissions, and created a healthier environment, then this might be justifiable. But they don’t. They don’t change how we lead our day-to-day lives.
This carbon tax will only reduce the amount of money in our bank accounts and our country’s competitiveness on the global stage.
