Editor’s note: A previous version of this article mistakenly equated the Clean Fuel Regulations with the industrial carbon tax. The article has been updated with a correction.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has vowed to eliminate another component of the consumer carbon tax, the Clean Fuel Regulations, which still affects provinces that have an independent carbon pricing system, if his party wins the next election.
In an interview on Tuesday with CBC Radio-Canada’s Patrice Roy, Poilievre confirmed that his plans extend beyond his long-standing promise to abolish the federal carbon levy for consumers. He also plans to abolish the Clean Fuel Regulations, the second component of the consumer federal carbon tax that applies to all provinces, which Poilievre said will add 17 cents a litre to the cost of fuel by 2030.
“The Bloc and the Liberals want higher gas and diesel prices. The Conservatives want to cut taxes,” said Poilievre.
A spokesperson for Poilievre told True North that while Quebec isn’t directly affected by one part of the carbon tax, they are affected by the Clean Fuel Regulations, the second aspect of the consumer carbon tax that Poilievre plans to eliminate.
Roy asked Poilievre how companies who invested in carbon reduction might feel.
“In my plan, all companies in Canada will pay less. I’ve never met a company that wants to pay more,” said Poilievre.
Poilievre also bashed the Bloc for supporting the capital gains tax, which he said would take money away from farmers, small businesses, and entrepreneurs in Quebec while giving it to the federal government.
“Only the Conservative Party voted against it, and we intend to make a major reform of the tax system to simplify, reduce, and make taxes fairer — to bring back production and bigger paycheques to Canada,” said Poilievre.
He added that the Bloc had abandoned Quebecers by siding with the Liberals and supporting Trudeau by banning hunting firearms, taxing gasoline, and abandoning the forestry sector by placing a decree on caribou.
The carbon tax will cost the Canadian economy $11.9 billion in 2024, an average of $295 in lost GDP per person. By 2030, this cost will rise to $30 billion, or a $678 loss in GDP per Canadian, according to calculations by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Approximately 70% of Canadians and 70% of provincial premiers previously called on Trudeau to “spike the hike.”
Despite a Conservative opposition motion calling on Trudeau to convene an emergency meeting on the carbon tax passing with unexpected NDP and Bloc Québecois support, no such meeting was held.
A previous Fraser Institute report showed that even if the Liberals’ 2030 emission target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 40% below 2005 levels is achieved, the global average temperature would fall only 0.007°C by 2100 compared to if Canada did nothing.
By 2030, the cost of the Liberals’ climate policies will rise to $6,700 per Canadian annually in 2019 dollars, according to the report.
