Ottawa’s climate czar may punish Canadians with another carbon tax hike after 2030, according to testimony at the Commons environment committee.
On December 14, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told MPs there are no promises he would cap the federal carbon tax at $170 per tonne — the equivalent of 40¢ per litre of gasoline. “It is a decision that hasn’t been made,” he said.
“Can you promise Canadians your government will never raise the carbon tax higher than $170 a tonne?” asked Conservative MP Dan Mazier. “We haven’t made any determination for what will happen after 2030,” replied Guilbeault.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Mazier posed to the minister the federal government promised not to raise the carbon tax only to hike it after the 2019 general election.
Parliament in 2018 passed the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act that capped the carbon tax at $50 per tonne or 12¢ per litre of gasoline. Cabinet at the time promised the cap would never increase.
Catherine McKenna, the former environment minister who infamously bragged about lying in the House of Commons, accuses Conservatives of “misleading” Canadians with “disinformation” about carbon taxes.https://t.co/pmQJNq9XF2 pic.twitter.com/JEZVVQlya3
— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) December 5, 2023
“The price will not go up,” then-Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told reporters June 23, 2019. “The plan is not to increase the price post-2022. We are doing exactly what we said we’d do.”
“There is no secret agenda,” she said August 26, 2019. However, the Trudeau Liberals pledged later that year to raise the tax incrementally to $170 per tonne by 2030.
Guilbeault told Mazier he disagreed with the characterization of no further tax hikes, reported Blacklock’s Reporter.
“We said the price on pollution would increase until 2022,” said the climate czar. “Then we said we would make an assessment to determine whether or not it should continue. That’s exactly what we did.”
“So, you aren’t committing to not going over $170 a tonne and increasing costs to Canadians?” asked Mazier. “It is a decision that hasn’t been made,” replied Guilbeault.
This is a developing story.
