Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson admitted Canadians will be paying more at the pumps due to his government’s carbon tax.
Wilkinson made the comments during an interview on TVO’s The Agenda With Steve Paikin.
“At the end of the day, politicians have an obligation to the public to tell them the straight goods. And if they have a disagreement, that’s fine. But let’s be serious and let’s be real about the facts,” said Wilkinson.
“Certainly as we move forward with that, it is going to have a number of different impacts. Certainly there are additional costs associated with moving to reduce the amount of carbon in those fuels.”
In December, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau backtracked on a former promise to not raise the carbon tax, increasing the levy on taxpayers up to 40 cents a litre by 2030.
The Liberals also introduced a second carbon tax which could add 50 cents per litre to the price of gasoline.
According to Environment Canada’s own notice, the standard is expected to “disproportionately impact lower and middle income households.”
“With respect to the Clean Fuel Standard, that is a regulatory mechanism that is about reducing the carbon intensity of fuels that we use,” explained Wilkinson.
“That’s about ensuring the gasoline we put in our car, the diesel that is used in heavy duty trucks, is reducing the amount of carbon emissions that it’s putting out into the atmosphere.”
In 2020, True North produced a four-part series exposing the failure of the Liberal government’s carbon pricing schemes.
Watch all four episodes of True North’s Green Hypocrisy here.
