Economy
Trudeau accused of lacking leadership after refusing to meet with premiers about carbon tax
From LifeSiteNews
Ontario Premier Doug Ford called the prime minister’s answer ‘snarky.’
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s refusal to meet with five Canadian premiers, who have demanded a meeting with him to discuss the ever-escalating carbon tax that shot up 23 percent on April 1, shows he lacks any true “leadership,” quipped Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe.
Last Thursday during an interview with the CBC’s Matt Galloway for an episode that aired-on April 4, Trudeau said he already “had” a meeting with the premiers in 2016 and will “continue to talk with premiers” about the carbon tax but will not meet with them soon.
Moe said Trudeau’s refusal to meet with the premiers is “not leadership.”
“Premiers have respectfully asked the Prime Minister for a meeting to discuss the carbon tax. Here is the snarky answer that we got,” Moe wrote Monday on X, with a link to a CBC report regarding Trudeau dismissing a full-out meeting with the premiers.
“That’s not leadership,” he added.
Shortly after the Trudeau government raised the carbon tax by 23 percent on April 1, the premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and New Brunswick all wrote letters to Trudeau asking him to convene an emergency first ministers meeting, to discuss the carbon tax’s detrimental effect on Canadians finances.
The first premier to write to Trudeau was Newfoundland and Labrador’s Andrew Furey, who wrote to him before April 1 demanding a meeting.
Last Thursday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in her letter to Trudeau wrote, “Albertans and Canadians are facing a cost-of-living crisis not seen in decades.”
“In March, natural gas was selling at less than $1.80 a gigajoule. Now that the carbon tax has increased to $4.09 per gigajoule, the tax alone is more than double what it costs Albertans to heat their homes. This is not just reckless, it is immoral and inhumane,” she wrote.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford in his letter to Trudeau said, “This carbon tax has to go, or in a year and a half, the prime minister’s going. It’s as simple as that. He will be going. I’ll guarantee you.”
Last Friday at a press conference, Ford said, “Taxing people doesn’t reduce emissions, and that’s what they’re doing. They’re hurting the economy. They’re hurting people. Unacceptable.”
Protests against Trudeau have been increasing in recent months due to the unpopularity of higher carbon taxes as well as other governmental policies.
LifeSiteNews reported last week that protesters let Trudeau know their true feelings about his tanking in the polls by heckling him with loud drum beats and screams during a press conference.
On April 1, Canada’s carbon tax, which was introduced by the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2019, increased from $65 to $85 per tonne despite seven of 10 provincial premiers objecting to the increase and 70% of Canadians saying they are against it.
Trudeau has remained adamant that he will not pause the hikes.
As it stands, Canadians living in provinces under the federal carbon pricing scheme pay $65 per tonne, but the Trudeau government wants to increase this to $170 per tonne by 2030.
Recent polls show that the scandal-plagued government has sent the Liberals into a nosedive with no end in sight. Per a recent LifeSiteNews report, according to polls, in a Canadian federal election held today, Conservatives under leader Pierre Poilievre would win a majority in the House of Commons over Trudeau’s Liberals.
Trudeau’s government is trying to force net-zero regulations on all Canadian provinces, notably on electricity generation, as early as 2035. The provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan are adamantly opposed to Trudeau’s 2035 goals.
The Trudeau government’s current environmental goals, which are in lockstep with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, include phasing out coal-fired power plants, reducing fertilizer usage, and curbing natural gas use over the coming decades.
The reduction and eventual elimination of the use of so-called “fossil fuels” and a transition to unreliable “green” energy has been pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) – the globalist group behind the socialist “Great Reset” agenda in which Trudeau and some of his cabinet are involved.
From LifeSiteNews
Saskatchewan has become the first Canadian province to free itself entirely of the carbon tax.
On March 27, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe announced the removal of the provincial industrial carbon tax beginning April 1, boosting the province’s industry and making Saskatchewan the first carbon tax free province.
Under Moe’s direction, Saskatchewan has dropped the industrial carbon tax which he says will allow Saskatchewan to thrive under a “tariff environment.”
“I would hope that all of the parties running in the federal election would agree with those objectives and allow the provinces to regulate in this area without imposing the federal backstop,” he continued.
The removal of the tax is estimated to save Saskatchewan residents up to 18 cents a liter in gas prices.
The removal of the tax will take place on April 1, the same day the consumer carbon tax will reduce to 0 percent under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s direction. Notably, Carney did not scrap the carbon tax legislation: he just reduced its current rate to zero. This means it could come back at any time.
Furthermore, while Carney has dropped the consumer carbon tax, he has previously revealed that he wishes to implement a corporation carbon tax, the effects of which many argued would trickle down to all Canadians.
The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) celebrated Moe’s move, noting that the carbon tax was especially difficult on farmers.
“I think the carbon tax has been in place for approximately six years now coming up in April and the cost keeps going up every year,” SARM president Bill Huber said.
“It puts our farming community and our business people in rural municipalities at a competitive disadvantage, having to pay this and compete on the world stage,” he continued.
“We’ve got a carbon tax on power — and that’s going to be gone now — and propane and natural gas and we use them more and more every year, with grain drying and different things in our farming operations,” he explained.
“I know most producers that have grain drying systems have three-phase power. If they haven’t got natural gas, they have propane to fire those dryers. And that cost goes on and on at a high level, and it’s made us more noncompetitive on a world stage,” Huber decalred.
The carbon tax is wildly unpopular and blamed for the rising cost of living throughout Canada. Currently, Canadians living in provinces under the federal carbon pricing scheme pay $80 per tonne.
As the federal government removes the consumer carbon tax, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on all party leaders to oppose all carbon taxes, including the hidden tax on business.
“Canadians fought hard to force Ottawa to back down on its consumer carbon tax and now the fight moves to stopping the hidden carbon tax on business,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Canadians can’t afford a carbon tax on business that pushes up prices at the gas station and makes it harder for our businesses to compete while they’re already struggling with a trade war.”
Today, the federal government cut the consumer carbon tax rate to $0. This will reduce taxes by about 17 cents per litre of gasoline, 21 cents per litre of diesel and 15 cents per cubic metre of natural gas.
The federal government still imposes an industrial carbon tax on oil and gas, steel and fertilizer businesses, among others.
During the Liberal Party leadership race, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he would “improve and tighten” the industrial carbon tax and “extend the framework to 2035.”
Just 12 per cent of Canadians believe businesses pay most of the cost of the industrial carbon tax, according to a Leger poll commissioned by the CTF. Meanwhile, 70 per cent said businesses would pass most or some carbon tax costs on to consumers.
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will “repeal the entire carbon tax law, including the tax on Canadian businesses and industries.”
“Carbon taxes on refineries make gas more expensive, carbon taxes on utilities make home heating more expensive and carbon taxes on fertilizer plants increase costs for farmers and that makes groceries more expensive,” Terrazzano said. “Canadians know Poilievre will end all carbon taxes and Canadians know Carney’s carbon tax costs won’t be zero.
“Carney owes Canadians a clear answer: How much will your carbon tax cost?”
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