OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is highlighting a fundamental unfairness about the federal carbon tax: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is requiring taxpayers in other provinces to pay a higher carbon tax than in Quebec.

“Trudeau is giving Quebec a special deal on carbon taxes and giving other Canadians higher gas prices and heating bills,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the CTF. “The solution is simple: Trudeau should scrap his carbon tax and lower gas prices and home heating bills across Canada.”

British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador are all required to raise the carbon tax to 14 cents per litre of gas next year and 37 cents per litre of gas by 2030.

“The federal government is committed to ensuring that carbon pricing is in place across Canada at a similar level of stringency,” according to the government’s backgrounder. 

Quebec’s provincial cap and trade carbon tax currently costs about nine cents per litre of gas and must stay above 4.8 cents per litre next year. Quebec’s provincial carbon tax is set to rise to 23 cents per litre of gas by 2030, according to LaPresse.

“Trudeau’s special deal for Quebec shows the carbon tax was always about politics, not the environment,” said Terrazzano.