Taxpayer watchdog warns Canadians to fight against ‘guaranteed income schemes’

The House of Commons recently rejected a New Democratic Party-led bill that would have allowed for a universal basic income instead of ‘cutting taxes and letting Canadians keep more of their own money,’ said Franco Terrazzano of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Canada’s most respected taxpayer watchdog group called on citizens to oppose as much as possible the policies and laws pushed by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and opposition parties.

“Taxpayers must stay vigilant and keep pushing back against this extremely costly scheme,” Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), told LifeSiteNews.

“Bad ideas never seem to go away in Ottawa, so taxpayers must stay alert and continue to push politicians to fight against guaranteed income schemes.”

In recent weeks, the House of Commons voted down an extreme New Democratic Party-proposed law that would have allowed for a universal basic income (UBI) for all Canadians and refugee claimants.

Instead of focusing on handouts, Terrazzano noted, the government should instead be “making life more affordable by cutting taxes and letting Canadians keep more of their own money.”

“The government is broke and is more than $1 trillion in debt so this expensive scheme would mean massive tax hikes for average Canadians,” he told LifeSiteNews.

Terrazzano observed how the New Democratic Party’s UBI “scheme” would have been a “disaster for taxpayers, businesses and our economy, and all politicians should fight against this.”

“It would make it harder for Canadian businesses to find and retain talent because if the government pays people not to work, fewer people will work,” he said.

While the New Democratic Party’s attempt at passing a UBI bill into law failed, there is another similar bill before Canada’s Senate that, if passed, would establish “a national framework for a guaranteed livable basic income.”

The cost of living in Canada has risen dramatically over the last few years under the Trudeau government, which continues to overspend and promote its ideologically charged agenda.

In June, LifeSiteNews reported that decades of progress in lowering the poverty rate in Canada has been wiped out in the last few years under Trudeau’s Liberal government.

Terrazzano previously told LifeSiteNews that he urged the Trudeau government to cut spending, balance the budget and “completely scrap” the “carbon tax,” as the best way to help struggling Canadians financially.

Related Topics:#AnthonyMurdoch #CanadianTaxpayersFederation #FrancoTerrazzano #LifeSiteNews UniversalBasicIncome

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Saskatchewan becomes first Canadian province to fully eliminate carbon tax

Published on April 1, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

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.

“The immediate effect is the removal of the carbon tax on your Sask Power bills, saving Saskatchewan families and small businesses hundreds of dollars a year. And in the longer term, it will reduce the cost of other consumer products that have the industrial carbon tax built right into their price,” said Moe.

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.

“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.

2025 Federal Election

Fight against carbon taxes not over yet

Published on April 1, 2025

Todayville

By Franco Terrazzano

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?”