As the calendar flipped to April this week, consumers in Canada were hit with a steep 23-percent increase in the nation’s carbon tax. The tax, originally instituted in 2018, is aimed at reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, which climate zealots argue are leading to global warming, which creates out-of-control climate change. The federal carbon tax went up to $80/tonne from $65/tonne on Monday.
Consumer anger over the increase boiled over into nationwide protests on Monday. Protesters snarled traffic in several cities, and the RCMP was called in to maintain order. Protesters temporarily blocked the Trans-Canada Highway, which links Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Protesters nationwide carried signs that read “Axe the tax” and “Trudeau must go.”
“We’ve had enough,” Jeff Galbraith, a People’s Party of Canada candidate, said at a rally in British Columbia. “I think we got a lot of frustrated, disillusioned, disheartened, disenfranchised Canadians. A majority of Canadians … they feel they have no voice anymore.”
In New Brunswick, mechanic Samuel Field spoke on behalf of his customers.
“It’s important for me to stand up for them, because I’m there to provide for them,” he said. “I want us all to succeed. It’s not good what’s going on. Our industries are being destroyed, our communities are being destroyed, it’s hurting our families.”
Trudeau countered that Canadian families are set to receive their quarterly rebate checks later this month. Those rebates are also increasing and are heavily weighted toward Canadians with lower incomes so, in a sense, they represent climate-based wealth redistribution.
Prior to the April 1 increase, seven premiers from the provinces — including Canada’s only Liberal Party premier New Foundland’s Andrew Furey — called for Trudeau to halt the proposed increase. In a letter to Trudeau, Furey asked the prime minister to convene an emergency meeting of Canada’s leaders to discuss alternative ways of addressing the so-called climate crisis.
“I therefore call on you to pause the April 1 carbon tax increase until the affordability and infrastructure issues improve,” Furey wrote.
in a letter of his own, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre also called for Trudeau to meet with premiers.
“I am requesting that, within six weeks of receiving this letter, you convene an emergency meeting of Canada’s 14 first ministers to discuss the carbon tax crisis,” Poilievre wrote. “Included in these discussions should be your willingness to allow provinces to opt out of the federal carbon tax and pursue other responsible ideas for lowering emissions without taxes.”
Trudeau hit back at Poilievre in a statement issued by a spokesman: “Meanwhile, Pierre Poilievre, who has yet to show any credible plan to tackle climate change, is lying about how the price on pollution impacts affordability, and wants to cancel the same Canada Carbon Rebate that puts more money back in the pockets of eight out of 10 Canadians.”
Premiers from the four Atlantic provinces were joined by premiers from Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Ontario in asking Trudeau to rethink the nation’s carbon tax policy. Previously, Saskatchewan stopped collecting and remitting the carbon tax.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe also called upon Trudeau to call a meeting of the premiers to discuss the carbon tax.
“It’s time for leaders to listen to the overwhelming majority of Canadians who oppose the carbon tax and the way it is increasing the cost of living. Canadians expect us to work together and that’s why we are asking the Prime Minister to hold this important meeting,” Moe posted on X.
When asked whether he would call that meeting, Trudeau continued to hammer home his climate-crisis message and wealth-redistribution scheme.
“I will continue to talk with premiers, but I will continue to be pressing Andrew (Furey) and all others on the actual facts, that we have a plan to fight climate change that puts more money back in the pockets of Canadians that need it,” the prime minister said.
Poilievre and other Conservatives in Canada believe that the next general election, which must take place no later than October 20, 2025, should be a de facto referendum on Trudeau’s carbon tax. In his zeal to enact a “great reset” with climate change as humanity’s focus, Trudeau has neglected the needs of Canadian citizens.
