CALGARY, AB: Today the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) launched a billboard campaign in Calgary, urging the Alberta government to scrap its harmful carbon tax. The billboard is located on 16th Avenue at 12th Street NW, across the street from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) campus.
Since the announcement of the carbon tax in Alberta, the CTF has been flooded with phone calls from Albertans concerned about how the carbon tax will impact their families and businesses.
“The carbon tax is guaranteed to make life harder for Alberta families and businesses, but it won’t make a dent in global climate change,” said CTF Alberta Director Paige MacPherson. “The carbon tax is all pain and no gain.”
The CTF’s Calgary billboard raises awareness of the fact that the Alberta carbon tax will cost the average family of four at least $600 per year in 2018. The billboard urges Albertans to visit www.ScrapTheCarbonTax.ca to sign a petition opposing Alberta’s carbon tax.
“In Calgary, driving your kids to school and heating your home aren’t luxuries people can cut back on – they’re necessities of life,” said MacPherson. “The government’s suggestion that people change their lifestyles to avoid the carbon tax is disingenuous and unrealistic.”
The $600 per year figure does not account for the additional costs of the carbon tax as a result of increased property taxes, education fees and grocery bills. A federally imposed carbon price of $50/tonne would have an even larger impact, costing the average Canadian household $2,569 annually by 2022.
“We’ve heard from hundreds of Albertans who oppose the government’s needless carbon tax and are genuinely nervous about the harm it will cause,” said MacPherson. “All Albertans are struggling, and we feel that sharply here in Calgary. A carbon tax is the absolute last thing people need.”
The CTF launched its campaign against the carbon tax in September with the release of Scrap the Carbon Tax bumper stickers, which are available to all Albertans free of charge.
“On top of wage cuts, spiking unemployment and other tax hikes, there’s enormous opposition to the carbon tax. But the government just isn’t getting the message,” said MacPherson.
The CTF is unveiling a different billboard in Edmonton later this week.
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For more information:
Alberta Director Paige MacPherson
cell: 403-478-7184, email: [email protected]
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