Former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland is planning on scrapping the federal consumer carbon tax if she is elected as the Liberal party’s leader and prime minister.
However, an advocate on behalf of Canadian taxpayers says that Freeland must prove her opposition to the carbon tax and avoid conceiving of similar programs that would merely replace the federal carbon pricing scheme.
On Thursday, CTV News reported that a close confidante of the Freeland campaign said she would run for the leadership of the Liberal party on an anti-carbon tax platform, promising to replace the tax with a program developed in collaboration with the provinces.
“She is ready to make difficult decisions to meet our emissions targets and make sure big polluters pay for their outsized emissions. But she will not fight Canadians on a policy, they have been clear, they do not support,” the source said.
“That’s why Chrystia Freeland will replace the consumer carbon price with a system that will work within our federation and will be developed collaboratively with provinces and territories.”
During her time working as minister of finance for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Freeland helped the government pursue its pollution pricing policy, drafting budgets with annual carbon tax hikes and defending the carbon tax in question period.
“I am really proud to be a member of a government that has made climate action a priority. Ours is the only major party that continues to advocate for a price on pollution, the most economically rational way to fight climate change,” said Freeland in the House of Commons this past fall.
Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Franco Terrazzano told True North that Freeland’s commitment to scrap the consumer carbon tax is not enough, and that she must prove to Canadians that she truly opposes the measure.
“Taxpayers have trust issues, so all Liberal leadership candidates, including Freeland, must prove they are against carbon taxes by calling on the government to scrap the carbon tax immediately,” said Terrazzano.
“The Conservatives are running on a promise to ‘Axe the Tax.’ If Liberal front-runners now say they don’t support the carbon tax, then the government should scrap the carbon tax now, not after the government hikes the tax again on April 1.”
Terrazzano said that he is encouraged to see pro-carbon tax politicians withdraw their support from the taxation scheme.
“Politicians are backing away from the carbon tax because ordinary Canadians have fought it aggressively for years,” said Terrazzano.
“The people deserve credit for the collapse of the carbon tax. Politicians know Canadians don’t support the carbon tax and they can’t run on carbon taxes if they want to keep their cushy political jobs.
However, he says there is more work to be done in scraping the federal carbon tax.
“It’s good to see politicians talking about opposing carbon taxes, but taxpayers will be watching to make sure a new carbon tax isn’t hidden behind a new name.”
The Toronto Star has reported that leadership candidate Mark Carney has been telling Liberal MPs in private that he would repeal the consumer carbon tax while keeping the carbon tax on industry.
