Letters

Trudeau’s Job Killing Carbon Scheme

January 10, 2019   ·   0 Comments

Written by David Tilson

Just before the Christmas holidays (and when most Canadians were understandably distracted with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and after Parliament had recessed for the Winter Break), Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the current Liberal government announced the final regulations for their carbon tax on large emitters, which has been called the output-based pricing system (OBPS), as well as their plans for the first phase of the government’s fuel standard regulations. What all of this represents is an added cost to Canadian consumers on top of Trudeau’s carbon tax, which makes life even more expensive for every day, hardworking Canadians. 

Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have put forward another element of their job-killing carbon scheme. This fuel standard, when implemented, will require reductions in the carbon intensity of solid, liquid, and gas fuels. What this essentially means is that coal, oil, and natural gas producers and refiners will need to incorporate biofuels into their products or they will have to purchase credits. This will increase the cost of fuel for anything that uses natural gas, gasoline, diesel, or coal, as producers and refiners pass these costs onto consumers, which means it will increase the cost of fuel for Canadian families and businesses on top of Trudeau’s job-killing carbon tax. 

Like his carbon tax, his shipping ban, and the No-More-Pipelines Bill C-69, their new fuel regulations are part of Justin Trudeau’s plan to phase out Canada’s energy sector. This job-killing scheme is unprecedented anywhere in the world, as it applies to all fuel, including fuel used for manufacturing, transporting goods, and home heating. Furthermore, this scheme will chase away investment, increase the cost to do business, and have a devastating effect on our economy. 

We, here in Ontario, are soon going to feel the hit of Trudeau’s carbon tax even more with his carbon tax “backstop,” as well as the provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and New Brunswick that will be forced upon us in April, which we can expect to increase the cost of gas when we’re filling up our vehicles to commute to work, taking our children to their sports and extracurricular activities, and going to do volunteer work. Small businesses will also have to pay the full price of the carbon tax and charge more to their customers for goods and services to cover those increased costs. 

Justin Trudeau and the current Liberal government’s carbon tax is not an environmental plan – it’s a tax plan! Everyday necessities will cost Canadians more. Canadians are being asked to make these sacrifices for a plan that won’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is simply about generating revenues for a government buried in ballooning deficits. Prime Minister Trudeau is spending the cupboards bare and is expecting Canadians to pay for it under the guise he’s tackling climate change. What’s worse is that we can count on Justin Trudeau to raise the carbon tax more if re-elected in 2019, as his own experts and government departments are telling him to do, as our leader, Andrew Scheer, recently warned. 

We, the Official Opposition, will continue to fight against Justin Trudeau’s job-killing carbon scheme. It’s not only wrong because it makes life more expensive for Canadians who can afford it the least, but it’s also wrong for Canadian taxpayers, the Canadian economy; and for the environment. We will hold the Prime Minister and the current Liberal government accountable, as we’ve done from the beginning. We will also be unveiling a detailed and comprehensive environmental plan before the next election and will repeal the Liberals’ carbon tax when we form the next government. 

         

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