The Trudeau government’s carbon tax and clean fuel standard have come under fire from provinces like Alberta and New Brunswick as gas prices soar across the country, but the government is hitting back at critics by claiming that they’re spreading “misinformation.”
“There’s abundant misinformation, disinformation,” Lena Metlege Diag, the Liberal MP for Halifax West, said in Dartmouth last week.
Metlege Diag stood alongside Sean Fraser, federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, to educate reporters about forthcoming rebates that are intended to offset the carbon tax’s July 1 increase and the implementation of the clean fuel standard – or as critics have called it, a second carbon tax.
“We’re here to help cut through some of the noise,” Fraser added. “I’m pleased to share that, beginning next week, Nova Scotians will receive a direct cash rebate from the federal government in the amount of $248 for a family of four or for an individual, $124.
“These are quarterly payments. These payments are going to arrive every three months.”
The government was unclear on exactly what “misinformation” the provinces were spreading.
The province of New Brunswick estimates that home heating oil will increase to 17.38 cents per litre as a result of the carbon tax. The cost to fill an average 900 litre oil tank will increase by $179.88. A home using 2,000 litres of oil a year will see the average annual cost rise by an estimated $399.74.
Moreover, the province of New Brunswick says it’s already on pace to reduce emissions by 40-45% below 2005 by 2030. The province maintains it has cut greenhouse gas emissions by 39% since 2005, and its provincial target of 47% below ’05 levels exceeds the federal target.
New Brunswick has already committed to reaching net zero by 2050.
“The Atlantic provinces have made amendments as to how regulators set maximum prices,” New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said in a weekend statement. “If these charges were not made, small retails in the region would have to absorb the additional cost of the federal government’s new regulations. This would significantly impact their revenues and jeopardize their ability to continue to operate.”
Higgs pointed out that in rural New Brunswick, there might only be a single family-owned gas station.
“They need to be able to recover these costs or they won’t be in a financial position to continue providing fuel to their community and ultimately may be forced to shut down. These businesses are important to small communities as they provide more than fuel. Just ask anyone who lives nearby.”
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith recently pushed back against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 2035 net-zero target and the carbon tax, claiming the tax is a cynical vote grab in the east.
“We have a system set up where they overtax us and then they dribble a little bit of money back to us if we’ll do our programs their way,” Smith told 630 CHED’s Your Province late last year. “And then they take the rest and they use it to buy votes in Eastern Canada.”
