Oct. 23, 2017

Taxpayers Federation stands with Manitoba in continued carbon tax fight

REGINA, SK: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is standing with Manitoba to fight Ottawa’s carbon tax announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today.

“A carbon tax will leave Manitoba with less money and make it harder to find jobs, but it won’t help the environment,” said Todd MacKay, the CTF’s Prairie Director. “It’s infuriating that Trudeau thinks that he can buy support from Manitobans with tax rebates paid for by their neighbours.”

Today Trudeau announced that he will impose a federal carbon tax on provinces that don’t comply with Ottawa’s demand to impose their own. The Trudeau carbon tax will spike gasoline prices by about 4.5 cents per litre starting next year and more than double it to 11 cents per litre in four years.

Trudeau says all of the money will be rebated to Manitobans. As the University of Calgary’s Dr. Jack Mintz explains, that plan is unrealistic as some of the money will be lost in administration, and, more importantly, businesses are left to carry the burden and “that means raising prices on Canadians at home, laying off workers, or reducing wages or dividends.”

Further, carbon taxes don’t help the environment. British Columbia has experimented with a carbon tax for more than a decade, yet the Sierra Club points out that emissions have got up four out of the last five years. Worse, Canada only produces 1.6 per cent of global emissions so a carbon tax here won’t have an impact – a point even Trudeau recognizes.

“Even if Canada stopped everything tomorrow, and the other countries didn’t have any solutions, it wouldn't make a big difference,” said Trudeau on Tout Le Monde En Parle on Sunday.

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For more information, please contact:

Todd MacKay – CTF Prairie Director – 306-582-7717 – [email protected]