By Western Standard
February 8, 2022
-Western Standard
The Liberals should revoke planned carbon tax hikes and give beleaguered homeowners energy rebates in the face of skyrocketing prices, the Commons finance committee was told.
Blacklock’s Reporter says the carbon tax will increase to the equivalent of 12 cents per litre of gasoline effective April 1.
“We would need to look at a moratorium on carbon taxes,” testified Dan McTeague, president of the advocacy group Canadians for Affordable Energy.
Price increases are mandated under the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act passed by Parliament in 2018.
“Look at a moratorium on increases in carbon taxes for now as well as rebates to help Canadians defend themselves in an era where we are going to see inflation pretty much destroy the purchasing power of many,” McTeague.
McTeague, a former Liberal MP (Pickering-Scarborough East, Ont.), noted then-Liberal Finance Minister Paul Martin in 2000 paid out $1.3 billion in fuel rebates to low-income households. Rebates averaged $250 per family.
“Provide a rebate for Canadians,” McTeague told the finance committee. “This is not a unique thought. We did it.”
“The carbon tax in many provinces, mine included here in Ontario, increased 10 cents a litre with HST in a period of 22 months. It is well beyond what would otherwise be an inflationary factor.”
Parliament capped the tax as 12 cents per litre of gasoline on a cabinet promise it would never increase.
“The price will not go up,” then-Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told reporters in 2019.
“The plan is not to increase the price post-2022. We are doing exactly what we said we’d do.
“There is no secret agenda. Any decision to move up would be in consultation with the provinces.”
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE WESTERN STANDARD, AND READ THE FULL STORY.
