To give Canadians a break on their summer road trips, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to suspend all gas and diesel taxes from Victoria Day to Labour Day.
“It will reduce gas prices by 35 cents a litre, allowing families to get on the road and go off to their favorite campsite, maybe a cottage, or a cabin. Do some fishing, some hunting, or just get away for a weekend,” Poilievre said Thursday, speaking in Vancouver.
“Canadians need that now more than ever, with how miserable things are going in this country of ours,” he said, behind a podium placard that read: “Axe the taxes.”
Specifically, the Conservatives want the Liberal government to suspend the federal carbon tax, the excise tax on fuel, as well as the GST on gasoline and diesel, which they estimate would lower gas prices and save the average Canadian family $670 over the next few months.
Under the current Canada Carbon Rebate system, the federal government offers the average family of four between $190 and $450 in quarterly incentive payments, which it says puts more money back in Canadians’ pockets than they spend on carbon pricing from the fuel charge.
The Conservatives dispute this assertion, citing a different conclusion from the same Parliamentary Budget Office analysis of the economic impact of the carbon tax. Seeking to address these contradictory interpretations, Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux has said that essentially both are true.
“If one looks at the fiscal impact — that is the amount of the carbon tax paid directly, indirectly and the GST that applies on these embedded or direct carbon taxes paid minus the carbon rebate — most families are better off,” Giroux told a parliamentary committee in March.
He went on to add that once the economic impacts of the carbon tax on some sectors of the economy such as oil and gas and transportation are factored in, “we find that most Canadian families in provinces where the federal backstop regime is in place will see a small negative impact of the carbon tax.”
Poilievre’s suggestion to pay for what would result in a sizable reduction in federal revenue would be to cut back spending on consultants, a step the Liberals have already vowed to take.
This latest Official Opposition push against the carbon tax comes after months of steady pressure on the Liberals to “axe” the federal carbon pricing program, something Poilievre has pledged to do, should he win the next election.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be taking reporters’ questions at an event touting 2024 budget measures in New Brunswick later this afternoon.
Throughout this political fight – while offering select affordability-minded carve-outs and rebranding it – Trudeau has stood by his policy as an effective tool to incentivize Canadians to change their behaviour and pollute less, to help tackle climate change.
This is a developing story, check back for updates…
