OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on all premiers to join New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs and launch a legal challenge against the federal carbon tax.

“Higgs is right that the carbon tax is an unfair punishment on Canadians and all premiers should stick up for their taxpayers by following his lead,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “Taxpayers are taking it on the chin every time we pay our heating bills and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is blowing a hole through constitutional accountability with his unequal application of the carbon tax.”

Higgs announced that if he is re-elected, the New Brunswick government would launch a renewed legal challenge against the federal carbon tax. 

The federal carbon tax “carve-outs violate the Supreme Court’s ruling, and the tax makes gas, groceries, and essential services more expensive,” according to the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick. 

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.

“Across Canada, fuel oil makes up just three per cent of residential heating energy,” according to the government of Nova Scotia. “Natural gas was the most commonly used energy source for residential heating.”

The average home uses 2,385 cubic metres of natural gas per year, according to the Canadian Gas Association. That means removing the current federal carbon tax would save the average home about $360 this year. 

“When Trudeau announced his furnace oil carve out, he admitted the carbon tax makes life more expensive, he admitted the carbon tax is all about politics and he left 97 per cent of Canadian families out in the cold,” Terrazzano said. “All premiers should do everything in their power to fight the carbon tax.”

A 2023 Leger poll found 70 per cent of Canadians support removing the carbon tax from all home heating fuels.