Libs backpedal on carbon

Photo: Contributed

The national carbon tax has been one of the signature policies of the Trudeau Liberal government.

However, Saskatchewan is refusing to implement the federally imposed carbon tax. 

The new Ontario government has also plans to reject what is often called the “Trudeau carbon tax” and has created the potential for a significant legal challenge.

This week, the Office of Environment Minister Catherine McKenna announced the Liberals will be backpedaling on the Liberal carbon tax policy.

The Liberal government announced plans that, as the CBC reported, will reduce the carbon tax so “large polluters will be taxed on10-20 per cent of emissions rather than 30 per cent” as was previously planned.

One well-known Canadian columnist observed these carbon tax changes amount to “a carbon tax that taxes you less the more carbon you emit.” 

Why are the Liberals making this change to reduce carbon tax on large-scale polluters?

In short, over concerns related to competitiveness. 

In my view these concerns are quite valid.

As for example, the United States does not have a national carbon tax nor do many of Canada's largest trading partners. 

I believe this is a major policy change as it is the first time the Trudeau Liberal government has publicly admitted that the costs of the carbon tax can place Canadian industry at a competitive disadvantage compared to countries that don't have the tax. 

The bigger problem is that these carbon tax changes announced by the Liberals only apply to large-scale polluters; unfortunately they do not apply to small business owners or hardworking Canadian families. 

For the average family and small business owner, there are no exemptions.

In some provinces, there are rebates for certain citizens, however, they are not applied in the same manner as an across-the-board exemption that would benefit all taxpayers.

I believe this creates a challenge and also leads to my question for this week.

• As the Liberals have now admitted that the carbon tax makes heavily polluting industry less competitive, would it not also be fair to recognize the adverse impact on small business owners and Canadian families who are not large-scale polluters?

I can be reached at [email protected] or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.