Montreal, Canada – For years, Pierre Poilierble has put simple slogans into his home: “Tax.”
The Canadian opposition Conservative Party leader – widely expected to become prime minister this year – has vowed to abolish the carbon pricing scheme enacted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the liberal government prime minister.
The policy has cost additional costs on fossil fuel products such as gasoline as part of the nation’s push to reduce emissions and tackle the climate crisis.
Dubbing it as a “carbon tax,” Poilierbre denounced Canada’s environmental programme in the affordable price crisis despite research showing that carbon pricing has a negligible effect on inflation. He also promised to “pay taxes for all forever.”
“We need carbon tax elections to fire all of them and bring home a common sense, conservative government.” He said in a recent video posted on social media that he mentioned liberals.
Conservatives hope that their anti-carbon tax strategy will pay back their federal votes in the future as Canadians continue to struggle with high food and housing costs.
Experts say the Tories campaign has made carbon pricing a politically hard-selled. Even at the forefront of the race to replace Trudeau as head of the ruling Liberal Party, which will retreat from policy.
“Conservatives in particular have made a lot of political hay from fighting back against carbon pricing. Hadrian Meltins Kirkwood, a senior researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said:
“There’s certainly some political opportunism happening here. Conservatives see this as a matter of victory, so they lowered the double and triple and turned it into a controversial position. “
But Meltins Kirkwood says that political rhetoric on carbon pricing “dramatically exaggerates” the issue, both in terms of its impact on affordability and its importance in the overall climate battle. Was stated.
“The problem is that it’s become this political football, this symbol of government is overflowing on the one hand, and it’s a microcosm of climate policy on the other hand. And I don’t think it’s either of them. I just think about it.”
What is carbon prices?
In 2018, Canada enacted the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Price Act, establishing minimum national standards for provincial and local carbon pricing nationwide.
The federal government has put in place two systems. One is for large industrial polluters and the other is for Canadian consumers.
Consumer carbon prices – What this attracted most scrutiny and political outrage was taxing the daily purchase of fossil fuel products such as diesel, gasoline and natural gas.
These taxes are increasing over time. According to the Canadian Federation of Taxpayers (PDF), the latest hike in April means that it costs $0.12 ($0.176) per liter per petrol.
What we’re thinking is that increasing the costs of fossil fuels will force Canadian consumers to change their behavior and move away from products that increase greenhouse gas emissions.
This scheme is just part of the liberal government’s overall strategy to tackle climate change.
“You’re making everyone pay a little bit at all times, so that’s a very noticeable policy,” Meltins Kirkwood said. He said that every time Canadians fill a gas tank they feel the impact of carbon pricing, paying for natural gas bills, or going to grocery stores.
“It’s just a recipe for unpopularity. Even if it’s not a big price, you can get a rebate, as in the case of basically the whole country,” he explained.
“Psychologically, it’s not a victory equation. I think it’s a problem inherent in carbon pricing, regardless of how it’s handled politically. It’s not a victory policy. “
Poor communication
In fact, the federal government has put in place a rebate system to help Canadian households offset carbon prices.
In a December report, University of Calgary professors Trevor Tombe and Jennifer Winter found that Canadian households received quarterly payments through the government’s rebate system.
“This means that many families, especially those with low income, are protected from the negative financial impact of emission pricing, and some families may have a net financial benefit. I will,” the professor explained.
They also said emission pricing has only increased the overall rise in Canadian consumer prices since 2019 by just 0.5%.
“Most price increases were driven by global factors, such as surges in energy prices and supply chain disruptions,” they said.
Keith Stewart, senior energy strategist at Greenpeace in Canada, said that some of the issues with carbon pricing can be “poisoning water” because the government didn’t clearly communicate how the system works. Was stated.
“The answer to communication they had to everything is trust us. We are smart economists,” he said.
The money that Canadians returned through carbon rebates was also not clearly labelled. The funds were deposited in people’s accounts without being marked as part of the policy, promoting confusion.
However, Stewart warned him not to rush to “throw away the baby” to abolish Canada’s carbon pricing.
Even with consumer prices reduced, the industrial carbon pricing scheme could still be strengthened, he said. “We’ll do the same job without causing the same anger.”
He also warned that the conservative campaign to “Unravel Taxes” is against a wider effort by the parties to reduce climate action and boost fossil fuel production.
Canada has one of the world’s largest oil deposits in Western Alberta. Poilievre opposed liberal proposals to promote new fossil fuel infrastructure, such as pipelines, and curb pollution by Canada’s oil and gas sector.
“Now, conservatives are proposing to eliminate not only carbon taxes, but clean fuel standards,” Stewart added. “It has a much greater impact than the way they say ‘reducing taxes’. “
Liberals break policy
Caroline Brouillette, executive director of Climate Action Network Canada, said some Canadian politicians have “scapegoated carbon pricing” as part of their “effort to limit all climate action.” Ta.
She also told Al Jazeera that the Conservatives have not been able to submit “climate plans or constructive proposals” so far.
“The conclusion I’m taking at this point is that when Mr. Polyeve faces one of the most serious crises facing the members he competed to serve, he says. It just means telling us if you’re doing it.”
Brouillette said Canadian parties should outline what they plan to tackle both climate and economic issues ahead of the next election that must take place by October 20th.
“We would like to engage in constructive conversations about what these candidates are proposing to tackle the affordability and climate crisis jointly, rather than engage in racing to the bottom. I hope,” she said.
Meanwhile, the liberals are set to choose a new leader to replace Trudeau in early March, with the race’s two final tranners making consumer carbon pricing one of their initial campaign promises I did.
Take a new approach to combating climate change. https://t.co/krlqbgjigl pic.twitter.com/wfcuetlh6e
– Mark Jcarney (@markjcarney) February 1, 2025
Mark Carney, a former governor of the Bank of Canada and a race top candidate, said last week he would replace carbon pricing with an incentive to “reward people by making greener choices.”
These choices include “purchasing more efficient appliances, driving an electric vehicle, and insulating the home,” Carney said. “The truth is, the consumer carbon tax isn’t working. It’s too distracting and too splitting, so I’m going to cancel it.”
Christia Freeland, a longtime Trudeau representative and former finance minister Christia Freeland’s leadership post rival, said he also plans to cancel carbon prices for Canadians.
“If people have a consumer price for carbon, they say, ‘You know, we don’t like it,'” she said in a recent interview. “So we have to listen, and at the same time we need a strong plan to combat climate change.”
“Changes in power”
Ultimately, Mertins-Kirkwood said the carbon pricing debate in part helped Canadians “distract themselves from talking about what would actually be an effective climate policy.
He said a more effective measure would be to introduce government regulations and make climate action a requirement, not a proposal.
Mertins-Kirkwood pointed to the mandatory phase-out of coal-fired power generation as one such example, pointing to plans to ban the sale of new vehicles with internally variable engines by 2035.
“These are difficult regulations, unlike carbon pricing and incentives for electric vehicles, they are strict approaches that force change in behavior.
Stewart of Greenpeace also said Canada should consider developing a “green industry strategy” that will create green employment and lead to better investments.
“We’re supporting a carbon tax?” “If it’s not a carbon tax, what?” he said.
