Business
Carney says as PM he would replace the Carbon Tax with something ‘more effective’
From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
Carney stumbles out the gate on carbon taxes
Prime minister hopeful Mark Carney is supposed to be the economic messiah sent to save the Liberals from the depths of polling purgatory.
But right out the gate, Carney showed he doesn’t have an answer to the most important question:
Will he keep the carbon tax?
Carney should have seen that question coming. His campaign leaked to the media that he would scrap the carbon tax. But when reporters asked him that question at his campaign kickoff in Edmonton, he went wonky and wobbly.
It should have been a yes or no answer. Instead, Carney served up an unappetizing word salad.
“If you are going to take out the carbon tax, we should replace it with something that is at least, if not more, effective,” Carney said. “Perception may be that it takes out more than the rebate provides, but reality is different, and Canadians will miss that money.”
Carney’s stance on the carbon tax is clear as mud and it’s bad for two key reasons.
First: he’d replace the carbon tax with something more “effective.”
The carbon tax has been very effective at sucking a lot of money out of the wallets of Canadians. And the carbon tax has been ineffective at hitting the government’s own emissions targets.
The carbon tax is an expensive failure.
Second: Carney parrots the insulting Trudeau government narrative that the carbon tax is all a “perception” problem.
The message is Canadians are too stupid to appreciate the genius of the carbon tax, and if the government could change the perception of the masses, the carbon tax would be just fine.
Worse for Carney, his answer was an assault on his own brand.
Carney’s the guy who is supposed to have his homework done. Instead, he shrugged at the obvious question, saying he’d release a “comprehensive” plan later.
In other words: just trust him.
But here’s the thing: Carney should have had an answer yesterday and taxpayers have trust issues.
When the Liberals won the 2015 election, their platform was sparse on details about their future signature policy. The carbon tax was buried on page 39 of their platform as “a price on carbon.”
The Liberal government imposed a carbon tax in 2019 misleading Canadians, saying the tax would stop at 11 cents per litre of gasoline in 2022.
“The commitment was to go up to 2022,” then environment minister Catherine McKenna said, shortly before the 2019 federal election. “There was no intention to go up beyond that, there’s no secret agenda.”
After the election, the Trudeau government announced it would keep cranking up the carbon tax every year until it cost 37 cents per litre in 2030. Filling up a minivan at that rate would cost nearly $30 extra in just the carbon tax.
The current Liberal government still won’t rule out future carbon tax hikes.
The government also claims most families get more back in rebates than they pay in the carbon tax, despite the Parliamentary Budget Officer issuing three reports confirming the carbon tax costs Canadians.
The carbon tax will cost the average family up to $399 this year, even with the rebates factored in, according to the PBO.
Liberal leadership hopefuls who want to earn trust with taxpayers must push the Trudeau cabinet to scrap the carbon tax immediately.
The next Liberal leader faces a daunting timeline.
When Parliament comes back on March 24, there will be a throne speech, then likely a flurry of confidence motions. This could bring down the government and trigger an election.
On April 1, the government is set to hike the carbon tax.
Does Carney want to hike the carbon tax during the first week of his election campaign?
If Carney is as savvy as we’ve been told, then his answer should be a loud “no.”
To prove to Canadians he’s opposed to the carbon tax, Carney must call on the Trudeau cabinet to scrap it right now.
From LifeSiteNews
Labour MP Lola McEvoy defended the Online Safety Act’s censorious measures, including bans and fines for social media platforms which ‘don’t comply’ with the strict age verification law.
Politicians from the U.K.’s ruling Labour party are starting to openly “out” the country’s Online Safety Act for the sweeping censorship law that its opponents have all along been warning it is.
The extreme case of using the law to completely ban social media platforms in the U.K. is now being promoted as a possibility by Labour MP Lola McEvoy.
“If these big platforms that have huge users don’t comply with the Online Safety Act, then they have no right to be accessed in this country,” the MP said while appearing on a podcast, adding, “So I think that’s what the law’s about.”
The masks are coming off, prompted by the latest clash between the government and Prime Minister Keir Starmer in particular and X owner Elon Musk – who criticized their role in a historical child sex exploitation scandal in the U.K.
In addition to saying that failure to comply with the law could result in the platforms getting banned, McEvoy suggested that “unelected citizens from other countries” should not be allowed to criticize U.K.’s government – she justified this by saying the criticism of Minister for Safeguarding Jess Phillips created “a very dangerous situation,” equating it to “bullying and harassment.”
McEvoy even made a point of public figures needing to be even more aggressively protected through censorship – effectively from whatever the government backing those figures decides to pack into the vague categories such as “bullying” and “harassment,” and in that way deal with critical, including legitimate, speech.
And where would any controversial call to step up online censorship be without getting served to the public as a way to above all – protect children?
So, in addition to blanket bans on accessing apps and platforms for essentially political reasons, China-style, McEvoy recalled that the Online Safety Act also contains the threat of massive fines in case the social media companies fail to comply with what she referred to as “very strict age verification” requirements.
McEvoy spoke about regulator Ofcom’s powers, which she described as “really significant” in enforcing the fines under the law that is being gradually implemented.
And as that is happening, this MP wants the Online Safety Act to be “strengthened” where it concerns the focus on things it treats as harmful to children, such as access to illegal content or pornography.
Reprinted with permission from Reclaim The Net.
From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Liberal leadership front-runners Chrystia Freeland and Mark Carney to clearly state whether they will scrap the carbon tax.
“Taxpayers have one simple question for anyone who wants to be prime minister: Will you scrap the carbon tax?” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Freeland is running on her experience as finance minister, but she gave a rambling response about listening to Canadians instead of giving a clear and credible answer. Carney is running on his economic expertise as a central banker, but his response didn’t provide any clarity beyond a vague suggestion that he’s working on a replacement scheme.
“How can Freeland or Carney hope to have a shred of credibility if they don’t have a clear answer to the question: Will you scrap the carbon tax?”
Freeland was asked about the carbon tax during her leadership campaign launch in Toronto on Sunday.
“We have heard very clearly from Canadians in provinces where there is a consumer-facing price on carbon that they don’t like it,” Freeland said. “That’s something that we have to listen to. Democracy means when people tell you something you have to listen. I will say our party hasn’t been good enough at that. That has to change, and I am going to change that.”
Carney was equally unclear on the carbon tax at his campaign launch in Edmonton on Thursday.
“If you are going to take out the carbon tax, we should replace it with something that is at least, if not more, effective,” Carney said. “Perception may be that it takes out more than the rebate provides but reality is different, and Canadians will miss that money, so you need a comprehensive approach.”
Liberal Government House Leader Karina Gould also announced her leadership campaign on Sunday. Gould said she would keep the carbon tax but would “immediately cancel the increase to the price on pollution ahead of April 1.”
The federal carbon tax is set to increase on April 1 to 21 cents per litre of gasoline, 25 cents per litre of diesel and 18 cents per cubic metre of natural gas.
Prior to the carbon tax hike last year, a Leger poll commissioned by the CTF showed 69 per cent of Canadians opposed the carbon tax increase.
“Gould figured out it would be bad if the carbon tax goes up right at the start of an election campaign,” said Kris Sims, CTF Alberta Director. “But Canadian’s don’t want half-measures as proven by the backlash against the temporary carbon-tax exemption for home heating oil.
“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been clear from the start he would keep the carbon tax and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been clear he would axe the tax. Anyone who wants to be a credible candidate for prime minister needs a crystal-clear answer for this question: Will you scrap the carbon tax?”
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