The price of gasoline at the pump is the highest we have seen in a long time. Canadian workers are frustrated with their ever-increasing bills. Russia’s illegitimate invasion of Ukraine has aggravated the situation.
Despite this, Canadians are not off the hook as someone closer to them is planning to raise gas prices further by the end of this week. And this increase will be permanent.
Indeed, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will increase his carbon tax by $10 wherever it applies, to bring it to $50 per ton of emissions on 1er April 2022, an increase of 25% compared to this year’s tax level. And that’s just the beginning, as the Liberals plan to raise it again to $170 a tonne in 2030.
Concretely, it is an additional 11 cents per liter of gasoline that Justin Trudeau takes out of the wallet of every Canadian.
We are going through a cost of living crisis in our country. A carbon tax hike right now will do nothing but hurt struggling families and businesses.
Housing prices are skyrocketing. Millions of Canadians have been completely shut out of the real estate market.
For rural families, for whom the use of a vehicle is essential to get around, a hike in the carbon tax will lead to heartbreaking spending choices.
Food prices jumped 6.5% in January alone. This should not happen in a country as resource rich as ours.
The cost of basic necessities has skyrocketed. A carbon tax increase at this time is totally irresponsible and out of step with the reality of our current economic situation. Not to mention that it’s an insult to hard-working families struggling to make ends meet.
In addition to making life more unaffordable, raising the price of carbon yet again at such a time undermines the legitimacy of the fight against climate change.
Trudeau’s whole point in imposing a carbon tax was to change people’s behavior by raising prices — it’s ideological. However, now that these have skyrocketed due to the war with Russia, the Government of Canada seems to be trying to take advantage of them by increasing its taxation again. Today more than ever, the increase in the carbon tax must wait.
A price increase in April will only exacerbate the “affordability” issues that Canadians face.
Although we must take climate change seriously by proposing clear and rigorous policies, we cannot tax Canadians more during a period of international economic instability and in times of war.
Tough times like these call for tough decisions to be made. But raising the carbon tax in April is an easy decision. It should therefore not be increased.