Smith right to fight carbon tax in court
OTTAWA, ON: 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.