Lorrie Goldstein
This will increase energy poverty in Canada, the impact analysis says, and will be felt disproportionately by low and middle-income Canadians, seniors on fixed incomes, single mothers, rural Canadians, Canadians working in the oil and gas sector and Canadians living in Atlantic Canada, who spend a higher proportion of their income on transportation compared to other provinces.
But keep in mind that the parliamentary budget officer says that even with the rebates applied to Trudeau’s carbon tax, which will be mailed to Canadians in those four provinces starting July 15, most households (60%) will end up financially worse off when factoring in the full impact of the carbon tax on the economy.
PBO Yves Giroux estimates the average Ontario household will be worse off by $360 this year, rising annually to $1,461 in 2030; the average Alberta household worse off by $671 this year rising annually to $2,282 in 2030; the average Saskatchewan household worse off by $390 this year rising annually to $1,464 in 2030 and the average Manitoba household worse off by $299 this year, rising annually to $1,145 in 2030.
But no Canadian government, Liberal or Conservative has hit a single emission target it has set in 34 years.
Trudeau already missed his 2020 target despite the global recession caused by the pandemic during which emissions everywhere fell dramatically.
At last week’s meeting of the G-7 in Germany, Canada, the U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Japan endorsed efforts to increase the global production of oil and liquid natural gas to make up for disruptions to global energy supplies resulting from countries attempting to recover from the economic damage caused by the pandemic recession, and by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The G-7, including Canada, claim their policies are consistent with achieving the UN’s 2030 and 2050 goals for reducing emissions, but that claim is absurd.
Last year, for example, global energy emissions rose by 6% to 36.3 billion tonnes, their highest level ever, according to the International Energy Agency.
So while Trudeau is raising the cost of fossil fuel energy for Canadians at home, he’s simultaneously endorsing policies to increase the use of fossil fuels globally.
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