EDITORIAL: Unveiled: The Truth Behind Carbon Tax’s Impact
The disturbing way in which the recently departed and unmourned administration of Justin Trudeau deceived Canadians about the carbon tax is just beginning to come to light.
The latest report from Statistics Canada indicates that the yearly inflation rate for March has decreased to 1.7%, compared to 2.3% during the same period last year.
It’s not unexpected. You don’t need to be an economist to understand that adding taxes to the cost of gasoline and natural gas will raise expenses for people and create difficulties for those who rely on driving or heating their homes—essentially affecting almost everybody in this expansive, cold nation.
Even though regular payments were provided to individuals as compensation for the expenses incurred due to the carbon tax, the parliamentary budget officer determined last year that families could still end up financially disadvantaged by the fiscal year 2030-31 once the overall effect on the country’s gross domestic product along with investment earnings had been considered.
Yves Giroux stated in his report that “Since the fuel charge reduces both employment and investment income, and these forms of revenue represent a greater portion of total income for high-income families, they end up bearing a higher net cost.”
In the meantime, those who argued that the carbon tax was adversely affecting Canadians were dismissed as heretics when it came to climate change.
Trudeau dismissed Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s claims that the carbon tax is exacerbating inflation as “complete rubbish.”
Nevertheless, StatsCanada has clearly documented just how accurate Poilievre’s predictions were. In April, gas prices dropped by 18.1% compared to the previous year, largely due to Prime Minister Mark Carney eliminating the carbon tax. If we exclude energy costs from the consumer price index, Statistics Canada reported that inflation stood at 2.9% for April, up from 2.5% in March. Notably, only Quebec did not experience a decline in inflation; this is because it operates under its own cap-and-trade system for carbon taxes and thus remained unaffected by the federal decision to terminate the tax elsewhere.
It’s evident that we were told a massive lie regarding the connection between the carbon tax and inflation. Some naive individuals believed it completely.
Carney might be a fresh presence leading the charge, but his cabinet includes many of the same individuals responsible for imposing the carbon tax on Canadians. They also downplayed and twisted how this tax would affect inflation. Their actions deserve criticism.