Not everyone is taking the bait on the federal government’s announcement to scrap the consumer Carbon Tax, with the province following suit.
Dan McTeague with Canadians for Affordable Energy calls the move a temporary pause and believes if the Liberals win the next federal election, the charge will be restored and renamed an Industrial C-Tax.
“This is just a head fake, and a lot of people should be aware of it, especially those who think if they don’t have it, we will vote for them (federal Liberals). If you do that you are going to get smacked just as bad if not worse and an industrial carbon tax is hidden, you won’t see how it is spent and not only will the rest of the country not see rebates you are going pay more for it than you are now.”
“Nothing else has changed here. The legislation hasn’t been proposed to be changed, I haven’t heard that and the same characters who brought you these taxes the last five to ten years as the previous Trudeau government are still in power, cabinet and positions of influence. Nothing has changed here except for the fact they want to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes.”
“Having been a Liberal Member of Parliament for 18 years I know something about legislation. Not only how government’s support or remove bills but how they are amended or changed. You don’t do it to buy trimming around the edges and fooling the orders of council,” added McTeague.
The 62-year-old represented the Ontario riding of Pickering-Scarborough East from 1993-2011. He served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
McTeague anticipates the pause on the carbon tax will lead to an 18.5 cent per litre drop in gas prices across Western Canada including BC as of April 1st.
BC Premier David Eby stated last week they are preparing legislation for this session to repeal the tax in the province, and eliminate the scheduled increase that would’ve occurred next month.
Big industrial polluters will continue to pay the carbon tax, with the goal of incentivizing industry to adopt lower-carbon technologies, while maintaining competitiveness.
Our province implemented BC’s first broad-based Carbon Tax in North America back in 2008.
The April 2024 carbon tax rate of $80 per tonne was translated based on the type of fuel used.
In terms of gasoline, the rate was $17.61 cents per litre while diesel was a little bit higher at $20.74.
While McTeague commends BC for taking quick steps to eliminate the consumer portion of the carbon tax, he stated our province has been in lockstep with Ottawa on this issue for too long.
“The federal government has set the schedule and BC has gone along with this. It’s got to be $170 a tonne, not zero dollars a tonne and then leave the industrial tax the way it is. It means the industrial carbon tax needs to be increased in order to reflect the decrease on the consumer side while keeping consumers completely in the dark.”
“He (Premier Eby) has two carbon taxes. He has the first one which is about $17.61 cents per litre followed by GST so that comes out to about 18.5 cents per litre and then he has a second carbon tax – no one seems to know what it is because it is hidden. It is called the British Columbia Low Carbon Fuel Standard, and it works out on carbon credits and it works out to four or five hundred bucks per carbon credit and that is another 20 cents per litre. At the end of the day, I think this is pretty much a case of trying to sell something to people on a pig and a poke.”
“I was right then, and I know I am right now because we have seen this play before. It won’t be called a consumer carbon tax, but they will levy it elsewhere. “
British Columbia’s budget shows that the impending end of the province’s consumer carbon tax will leave a roughly $1.5 billion hole in its revenue streams.
Canadians will still receive their final carbon rebate next month.
A federal industrial carbon tax on large emitters remains in place.
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