OTTAWA, ON: Canadian Taxpayers Federation Federal Director Aaron Wudrick released the following statement in response to the Trudeau government’s announcement it would be hiking the federal carbon tax to $170/tonne by 2030:

“In the run up to the last federal election, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s then-environment minister Catherine McKenna was asked directly about her government’s carbon tax, she explicitly stated that there was ‘no intention for it to go up’ beyond 2022.

“McKenna lied, and her party misled millions of Canadians about its true intentions – to secretly impose a massive tax hike that will see gas prices rise as much as 39 cents per litre by 2030. It is a spineless move for which the government has no mandate. This is a government too cowardly to look people in the eye and tell them that their lives are about get more expensive.

“As a final insult, this news comes at a time when the government should be looking at ways to ease the burden on Canadian families and businesses – not hammer them with additional costs for years to come.”