EDITORIAL: We pay much more than a CO2 tax

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s climate change plan has become a many-headed monster, with costs making life financially harder for Canadians.

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When the ruling Liberals talk about climate change, they constantly point to their carbon tax as the most efficient way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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But Canadians don’t just pay a carbon tax.

They pay or are in the process of paying multiple forms of carbon pricing.

These include the federal carbon tax, the GST on top of the federal carbon tax, clean fuel and clean electricity regulations, the costs of an ongoing subsidy war with the U.S. to attract green energy developers, and a looming emissions cap on Canada’s oil and gas sector.

Climate stimulus payments cover part of the cost of Trudeau’s carbon tax in the eight provinces where it applies – BC and Quebec have carbon pricing systems approved by the Trudeau government.

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Yves Giroux, Parliament’s budget officer, reported in March that, taking into account the carbon tax’s negative impact on the economy, six out of 10 Canadian households that pay the federal carbon tax are already paying more than they receive in refunds, contrary to the government’s claims , eight out of ten are ahead at the end.

Giroux said that in the eight provinces where the federal carbon tax currently stands at $65 per tonne of emissions, average households will pay between $347 more in carbon taxes per year than they receive in rebates (Newfoundland and Labrador ), up to a maximum of $710 (Alberta).

In 2030, when the carbon tax reaches $170 per ton of emissions, average households will pay between $1,316 more per year than they receive in rebates (Newfoundland and Labrador) and $2,773 (Alberta).

In addition, flat-rate discounts only apply to the CO2 tax, not to other forms of CO2 pricing.

Proponents of carbon pricing argue that these costs are dwarfed by the costs of doing nothing — a valid argument if paying all that money would reduce severe weather caused by human-caused climate change.

But as Giroux reported last year, Canada’s “emissions are not large enough to significantly impact climate change.”

Instead, we must rely on global efforts to reduce emissions.

Global emissions rose last year to the highest level in human history.