Do you want facts or slogans?
Facts pay you money. Slogans cost you money. They say “money talks.” Can it speak loudly enough to bust through the wet blanket of misinformation thrown down by Slogan Boy, aka Pierre Poilievre, aka O’l Whiny Pete?
Will people vote with their heads or through their assholes? I’ll have to let you answer that for yourself.
Following is a brief summary of the carbon tax. No, I’m not calling it the “Climate Initiative” like the Liberals would prefer because that just muddies the water. A tax is a tax is a tax, and I’m not afraid of the word. Everything costs money, and we know that. And now it’s the turn of climate change.
Or, you can be a Conservative, which gives you two options: you can lie through your teeth or stick your head in the sand. It’s a really good look for a person with no self-respect.
Anyways, if you want the plain facts, here they are:
2016: All ten provinces and the Canadian federal government present their collective strategies towards a clean economy. The resulting document is called The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change. The document is primarily about carbon pricing.
2016: The Ontario Climate Change Mitigation and Low-Carbon Economy Act, passed by the government of Kathleen Wynne established a standard cap and trade system which integrates with the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) providing access to a larger market to buy and sell carbon credits.
2017: Ontario government (Kathleen Wynne) joined the Western Climate Initiative, a market-based program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.and link its cap-and-trade system with Quebec’s and California’s by January 2018. As a result, Ontario citizens pay no carbon tax. Rather than a consumer tax, it’s a tax directed at major polluters.
2018: Canada passes the GHGPPA, or Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, implementing a revenue-neutral carbon tax starting in 2019, applying only to provinces where provincial carbon pricing systems did not meet federal requirements. Revenue from the carbon tax was to be redistributed to the provinces to be passed along to consumers as rebates. This is the so-called “carbon tax.”
2018: The newly-elected Progressive Conservative government of Doug Ford cancelled the previous cap and trade system, most likely because it had been passed by the Wynne Liberals. The Ontario government then unveiled a new climate plan that didn’t include any kind of price on emissions. This new plan did not meet the agreed upon standards of the 2016 federal-provincial agreement. Ontario citizens will now be required to pay the federal carbon tax by default, as Ontario is no longer in compliance with the Pan-Canadian Framework.
2019: The Ontario government introduces the Federal Carbon Tax Transparency Act, making it mandatory for all gas stations (other than those on reserves) to display government- commissioned decals on their pumps informing customers of the claimed “cost” of the federal carbon tax. The stickers don’t mention the rebates. They also don’t stick very well. They also cost a lot of money.
2019: Manitoba, Ontario, and Saskatchewan challenge the constitutionality of the carbon tax at the Supreme Court of Canada. The court rejects their appeal, ruling that the GHGPPA was constitutional. The court case cost the province a lot of money.
2020: The Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that Ford’s mandatory gas-pump decals attacking federal carbon-pricing measures were unconstitutional and violated business owners’ freedom of expression.
2023: Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre begins his “axe the tax” crusade promising to repeal the carbon tax if elected prime minister. No indication as to how he will address climate change.
The numbers above reflect the carbon tax paid and carbon rebates received until 2022. The average carbon rebate for Canadian families in 2024 is $1124.00.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 