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Taxpayers Federation urging Ontario to join Alberta’s carbon tax court fight

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From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

By Jay Goldberg

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Ontario Premier Doug Ford to join the Alberta government and constitutionally challenge against the federal carbon tax.

“Ford has rightly opposed the federal carbon tax for years, but now he has a new chance to beat it in court,” said Jay Goldberg, CTF Ontario Director. “Last time the carbon tax fight went to the Supreme Court, the federal government argued it needed a national carbon tax to deal with a national problem. But then it undercut its own argument for a national carbon tax by making an exception for furnace oil, which clearly favours Atlantic Canada.

“Trudeau torpedoed his own constitutional argument for imposing a carbon tax so it’s time to challenge it in court again.”

Today, the Alberta government announced it has filed an application at the federal court challenging the constitutionality of the carbon tax in the wake of the federal government’s heating oil carbon tax exemption.

Last year, the federal government announced it is removing the carbon tax from heating oil for three years, but did not exempt other forms of home heating energy.

The carve-out disproportionately helps Atlantic Canadians. Only two per cent of Ontario households use furnace oil to heat their homes.

The average Ontario home uses 2,497 cubic metres of natural gas per year. That means removing the current federal carbon tax would save the average home about $381 this year.

“When Trudeau announced his heating oil carve out, he admitted the carbon tax makes life more expensive, he admitted the carbon tax is all about politics and he left the vast majority of Canadians out in the cold,” Goldberg said. “Ford needs to take this new opportunity to join other provinces and fight the carbon tax in court.”

A recent Leger poll commissioned by the CTF shows 60 per cent of Ontarians want the federal government to remove the carbon tax from all heating fuels.

Smith right to fight carbon tax in court

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation applauds Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for launching a renewed constitutional challenge against the federal carbon tax.

“The carbon tax is making the necessities of life in Alberta more expensive and that’s why Smith is right to take Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax back to court,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Last time the carbon tax fight went to the Supreme Court, the federal government argued it needed a national carbon tax to deal with a national problem. But then it undercut its own argument for a national carbon tax by making an exception for furnace oil, which clearly favours Atlantic Canada.

“Trudeau torpedoed his own constitutional argument for imposing a carbon tax so it’s time to challenge it in court again.”

Today, the Alberta government announced it has filed an application at the federal court challenging the constitutionality of the carbon tax in the wake of the federal government’s home heating oil exemption.

Writing in the National Post, the CTF called on all premiers to launch a new legal challenge against the federal carbon tax.

Last year, the federal government announced it is removing the carbon tax from furnace oil for three years, but did not exempt other forms of home heating energy. Less than one per cent of Alberta households use heating oil.

The average Alberta home uses about 2,935 cubic metres of natural gas per year, according to Statistics Canada. That means scrapping the current federal carbon tax would save the average Alberta home about $440 this year.

“Taxpayers are taking it on the chin every time we pay our heating bills and Trudeau is torpedoing constitutional accountability with his unequal application of the carbon tax,” Terrazzano said. “When Trudeau announced his heating oil carve out, he admitted the carbon tax makes life more expensive, he admitted the carbon tax is all about politics and he left the vast majority of Canadians out in the cold.”

A recent Leger poll commissioned by the CTF shows 70 per cent of Albertans want the federal government to remove the carbon tax from all heating fuels.

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PBO report shows cost of bureaucracy up 73 per cent under Trudeau

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From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

By Franco Terrazzano

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the federal government to rein in the bureaucracy following today’s Parliamentary Budget Officer report showing the bureaucracy costs taxpayers $69.5 billion.

“The cost of the federal bureaucracy increased by 73 per cent since 2016, but it’s a good bet most Canadians aren’t seeing anywhere close to 73 per cent better services from the government,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Taxpayers are getting soaked because the size and cost of the federal bureaucracy is out of control.”

Today’s PBO report estimates the federal bureaucracy cost taxpayers $69.5 billion in 2023-24. In 2016-17, the cost of the bureaucracy was $40.2 billion. That’s an increase of 72.9 per cent.

The most recent data shows the cost continues to rise quickly.

“Spending on personnel in the first five months of 2024-25 is up 8.0 per cent over the same period last year,” according to the PBO.

“I have noticed a marked increase in the number of public servants since 2016 and a proportional increase in spending,” said Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux. “But we haven’t seen similar improvements when it comes to service.”

The Trudeau government added 108,793 bureaucrats since 2016 – a 42 per cent increase. Canada’s population grew by 14 per cent during the same period. Had the bureaucracy only increased with population growth, there would be 72,491 fewer federal employees today.

The government awarded more than one million pay raises to bureaucrats in the last four years, according to access-to-information records obtained by the CTF. The government also rubberstamped $406 million in bonuses last year.

“The government added tens of thousands of extra bureaucrats, rubberstamped hundreds of millions in bonuses and awarded more than one million pay raises and all taxpayers seem to get out of it is higher taxes and more debt,” Terrazzano said. “For the government to balance the budget and provide tax relief, it will need to cut the size and cost of Ottawa’s bloated bureaucracy.”

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Can’t afford Rent? Groceries for your kids? Trudeau says suck it up and pay the tax!

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Watch Canada’s Prime Minister tell an anti-poverty group, your ability to buy “groceries for my kids” is less important than sacrificing to pay his carbon tax.

In case you still thought there might be even the tiniest chance Justin Trudeau might come around.. well this settles it. He is as they say, ‘beyond the pale’.

Sure we’ve pieced this together over the last number of years, but it’s still SHOCKING to see him say it directly, proclaim it proudly. This week Trudeau received applause from an audience of the intellectually suffering at something called the “Global Citizen Now” panel discussion on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rio.

Much appreciation for the first short video below to Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre who shared his ferocious reaction to Trudeau’s anti-human comments, challenging the current PM to call an immediate election.

Or course there will be no quick election call. To Justin, it’s more important to cling to the undercarriage of a taxpayer funded jet so he can fly the globe stunning audiences unfortunately already stunned by their utter terror of losing the planet.

In their horror at their inability to turn the switch off and let us all freeze/starve to death this winter, they applaud lovingly for their intellectual leader/sock model as he describes how hard it is to convince angry, hungry people they really need to suck it up.

If only he read a history book.. any history book.. apologies, any book at all. Truly even spending some time with the literary version of an Al Gore video rant would at lest keep JT occupied so he couldn’t speak for a few moments. I’m pretty sure every time he opens his mouth, the temperature in Canada rises as millions of frustrated hotheads (hello there) explode, spewing steam high up into the upper atmosphere where water particles do much more damage to our planet than the final exhaling of a non grocery-eating-planet-loving-Canadian.

Watch Pierre Poilievre’s video and assuage the ensuing headache by mapping out your route to a polling booth. If this doesn’t sell a couple of those ‘Axe the Tax’ shirts for the Poilievre team, well.. enjoy your stroll to the foodbank.

Here’s a link to his entire discussion. If you have a strong stomach and 20 minutes of your life to donate to a higher cause… No silly, not the intended cause of the anti-poverty group… But to the intellectual cause of understanding just how twisted the logic has become for those who fly around the world to wine and dine, only to break long enough to tell us they think it’s perfectly fine if we can’t buy groceries for our kids.

By the way, please save a bit of your shock and disappointment for the hapless host of the ‘anti-poverty’ Global Citizen. This was apparently on the sidelines of a G20 Summit.  I would expect this drivel to be called out at a respectable middle school debate. Apparently the ‘anti-poverty’ Global Citizen people aren’t overly concerned with poverty. Do we need to say that not being able to afford groceries is in fact THE definition of poverty?  Or course not. It would be much easier for them to change their name to Former Global Citizens.

You were warned.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sits down for a conversation with Michael Scheldrick, co-founder of the anti-poverty group Global Citizen, on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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