CHAREST: Now is no time for a carbon tax hike

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Fuel costs are the best now we have seen them in current reminiscence. Exhausting-working Canadians are annoyed with the fixed will increase in costs. Russia’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine has made this worse.

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Canadians ought to brace themselves — as a result of somebody nearer to house is planning to extend fuel costs by the top of this week. And this enhance shall be everlasting.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will hike the carbon tax by $10 to $50 per tonne of emissions on April 1 — up 25% from this yr’s $40-per-tonne levy. That is just the start because the Liberals plan to extend the carbon tax to $170 per tonne in 2030.

That’s 11 cents per litre of fuel that Justin Trudeau is taking out of each Canadian’s pockets. And for what?

We’re in a cost-of-living disaster on this nation. A carbon tax hike at the moment will solely harm struggling households and companies.

Housing prices are hovering. Thousands and thousands of Canadians have been utterly shut out of the market with no viable path to entry.

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For rural households, the place driving is important, a carbon tax hike will result in very robust family spending decisions.

Meals costs have jumped 6.5% in January alone. This shouldn’t be taking place in a rustic as wealthy in sources as ours.

The price of primary items has exploded. Rising the carbon tax now’s completely irresponsible and out of step with the realities of our present financial state of affairs. What’s extra, it’s an insult to hardworking households struggling to make ends meet.

Along with making life extra unaffordable, elevating the worth of carbon nonetheless additional at a time like this undermines the legitimacy of the combat towards local weather change.

The entire level of Trudeau’s carbon pricing was to alter behaviour by growing costs — it’s ideological. However now that costs have skyrocketed because of Russia’s conflict, the Authorities of Canada appears prefer it’s making an attempt to revenue from it by growing its tax once more. Now greater than ever, the carbon tax enhance have to be paused.

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A value enhance in April will solely additional exacerbate the true and determined affordability points Canadians face.

Whereas we have to take local weather change severely, we can not tax and spend our solution to internet zero. Actually not throughout a interval of huge worldwide instability and conflict.

Robust occasions like these name for robust selections.

However in the case of growing the carbon tax in April, the choice is comparatively simple.

Don’t do it.

— Jean Charest is a Conservative Get together of Canada Management Candidate. He beforehand served because the chief of the Progressive Conservative Get together of Canada from 1993 to 1998, Deputy Prime Minister in 1993 and because the Premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012.