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Letter: Trudeau should listen to Canadians on carbon tax

The carbon tax is driving up the cost of goods and inflation, reader argues, and the prime minister just isn’t listening to fed up voters
Letter to the Editor
typewriter pexels-caryn-938165 (From Pexels by Caryn)
From Pexels by Caryn

Justin Trudeau has brought us the carbon tax and has been touring the country (in a jet and having a dozen or so SUVs left idling at every stop) trying to justify this completely ineffective inflation driving policy.

Justin Trudeau is a 52-year-old, ex-part-time drama teacher, snowboard instructor and bouncer with nice hair and terrific socks — these qualifications got him elected as the prime minister of this country.

Does he understand that having a tax on the energy that we need to stay warm, get to work, produce goods and transport them to market is certainly going to drive inflation up and make the middle class fall behind in every possible way or does he just not care?

Every ordinary Canadian pays the carbon tax directly on every litre of gas, diesel, propane and cubic meter of natural gas, if you need evidence of this simply refer to your receipt and don't forget that the HST of 13 per cent is added on top of the carbon tax. The amounts as of April Fools day are as follows in all provinces that are subject to the federally mandated charge:

  • Gas: 17 cents per litre
  • Diesel: 21 cents per litre
  • Propone: 12.3 cents per litre
  • Nat Gas: 15 cents per cubic meter

This isn't charged to some big company and then passed along to you; it's charged directly to you. The second carbon tax with the fancy name of the “Clean Fuel Standard" is a burden put upon energy producers and then buried in the price you pay and get taxed on. 

There is no lie here — the increase was three cents per litre, which brings the total cost of the carbon tax on gas to 17 cents, no input from the corporate boogeyman here.

The Parliamentary Budget Office has said clearly that the tax costs more than the rebates, but the same office says that the rebates exceed the cost. How is this possible? Well it just depends on which data set you refer to and then work the numbers from there, but the fact is that when the up-front cost of the tax and the inflationary influence is combined, more people pay more than they get back and that is without including the HST, which puts the cost way over the top.

Now the tax is supposed to encourage us to cut down on our use of CO2 producing fuels but if you "magically" get back what you pay (or even more if you are to believe the Liberals) to pollute then how does that possibly have any effect on CO2 emissions?

All Conservatives, and if the recent polls are any indication, most Liberals are fed up with the carbon tax and want it to go away. Maybe Justin Trudeau should start to listen to the Canadian public like his Conservative colleagues do and he might come to the realization that his carbon tax is a losing idea, both for the environment and the citizens of the country.

Fun Fact: the carbon tax in Quebec is 25 to 30 per cent lower than the federally mandated amounts, I guess Quebec CO2 is less harmful or is it all just political games?

Al Lockhart
Greater Sudbury