Newfoundland and Labrador’s premier is adding his voice to the growing chorus calling for Justin Trudeau to scrap an impending hike to the federal carbon tax.
Premier Andrew Furey penned an open letter to the prime minister calling for a pause on the carbon tax increase, scheduled for April 1, to help alleviate Canadians’ struggle with the increasing cost of living.
“Workers and families in Newfoundland and Labrador, throughout the country and indeed around the globe continue to face the most significant cost of living crisis in a generation,” wrote Furey. “For the past two years now, Canadians have endured persistent and punishing inflation, coupled with the most aggressive inflation in the history of the Bank of Canada.”
The Trudeau government will be raising the carbon tax an additional 17 cents per litre of gasoline, 21 cents per litre of diesel, and 15 cents per cubic metre of natural gas, effective Apr. 1.
Furey said that for his province’s “most vulnerable, it has been a particularly difficult time” and that it’s time for the federal government to address the “magnitude of inflation’s effect on citizens.”
The premier made a point to share all the environmental work his province has already done, such having its lowest greenhouse gas emissions since 1992 and being “well below the 10 million tonnes per year average of the past decade.”
In collaboration with Ottawa, Furey’s provincial government is offering eligible residents up to $22,000 to switch their home heating from oil to electric, an offer that Furey said is receiving applicants in “record volume,” with 2,140 applications already submitted.
However, many residents of the Atlantic province are still struggling with the basic cost of living and the “coming almost 25 per cent increase (from $65 to $80 per tonne) in the federal carbon tax on April 1st is causing understandable worry as people consider how they will manage the mounting financial strain,” wrote Furey.
“We ask for the collaboration of the federal government to address the ramifications of the current challenges that families face and not to compound them,” added Furey.
“I respectfully request that you consider pausing the implementation of the April 1st carbon tax increase – at least until inflation stabilizes, interest rates lower and related economic pressures on the cost of living sufficiently cool,” concluded Furey.
Furey is not the only premier to express dissatisfaction with the carbon tax, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe recently pledged to stop collecting it altogether and Northwest Territories’ premier, R.J. Simpson, requested a full exemption from it.
A Leger poll for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation found that the majority of Canadians, 69%, opposed the hike, while the remaining 31% were in support of it.
That number would increase to 72% if Quebec and British Columbia, where the federal carbon tax isn’t applied directly, were excluded.
“The poll is clear: the vast majority of Canadians, across every province and all demographics, oppose the upcoming federal carbon tax hike,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF’s federal director.
“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should listen to Canadians and stop hiking his carbon tax.”
