On Parliament Hill

There are sure signs that spring is finally upon us. The sun is out, the snow is slowly melting, the birds are singing, and the Trudeau Liberals are, once again, raising taxes.

As of April 1st, the Liberal Carbon Tax increased by another 30% to 14 cents per liter.

According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, when filling up at the pump, Manitobans now pay 14 cents in Federal Excise Tax, 8 cents in federal sales tax, an additional pre-liter tax of 1.8 cents and now 14 cents in Carbon Tax. That means for every dollar spent on gasoline roughly 46 cents are tax!

Of course, the Carbon Tax doesn’t only affect the price of gasoline. The Liberal Carbon Tax is a tax on everything. Gas, groceries (and other products), home heating, the list goes on and on. The only thing, it seems, that remains un-affected by Justin Trudeau’s Carbon tax is the environment.

That the Carbon Tax has made little to no difference to the environment should not surprise us. The whole thing is a scam. A smoke and mirrors sales job to cover up one of the biggest wealth redistribution tools in Canadian history.

Let’s look at the three main Government talking points about the Carbon Tax.

One: “The Carbon Tax is putting a price on pollution.”

False.

The Liberal Carbon Tax is not – as the Prime Minster so loves to recite – “putting a price on pollution”. One of this Government’s first acts in office was to authorize the city of Montreal to dump 8 billion liters of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River. No price on pollution there.

The Carbon Tax has made no demonstrable change to emissions and no targets have been met, nor will they be.

Those on the political left are correct that the tax is too low to force people to modify their behavior and leaves exemptions for large emitters. Those on the right are equally correct that taxing carbon in Canada is virtue signaling at best – as Canada accounts for a mere 1.5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – and in questioning the sanity of ignoring actual pollution while taxing a life-enhancing element of the very air we breathe.

Two: “Eight of ten Canadian families will receive more money back in rebates than they paid in.”

False.

As Rex Murphy pointed out, recently, in his excellent piece in the National Post:

“Name a tax that makes the taxpayer richer. What a strange incentive that would be. Half of Canada would be upping the thermostat, putting the air conditioner on in winter, and driving day and night to burn up oil and gas so that they could get more back than they put in. But the Liberals, desperate to sell this senseless curb on growth and industry had to confect some… twist of logic and reality to justify it.”

As the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has made clear (on numerous occasions), you are not getting more money back – hardly anyone anywhere is. In fact, by the time the tax is fully implemented in 2030, eight of ten households will pay exponentially more – a fact that even former Green Peace activist and current Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has recently admitted.

No tax makes the taxpayer richer. Only the government. Which leads to the third talking point.

“The Carbon Tax is revenue neutral.”

False.

Even if we are to believe the principle of the taxes collected all goes toward rebates (a stretch to be sure), the Trudeau Liberals are charging GST on top of the Carbon Tax and that goes directly into the government’s coffers. They are making hundreds of millions of dollars off the Carbon Tax.

The Liberal Carbon Tax is not “putting a price on pollution” and it doesn’t make a difference for the environment.

The Liberal Carbon Tax does not give taxpayer back more in rebates than what they pay.

The Liberal Carbon Tax is not revenue neutral.

All three talking points are demonstrably false.

What is true is this tax, like so many others, are costing Canadians more money at a time when most cannot afford it.

Only Canada’s Conservatives remain committed to axing Justin Trudeau’s Carbon Tax and leaving more money in the pockets of the families it is currently hurting.