Ottawa’s decision to exempt home heating oil will cost the treasury upwards of $1 billion, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) — $755 million in Atlantic Canada alone.And according to a new poll commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), 77% of Maritimers are demanding even more relief.According to the PBO, fuel oil users in Newfoundland and Labrador, PEI, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick stand to gain about $755 million in carbon tax relief over the three-year exemption period, while users in Ontario will reap another $295 million. The rest of Canada — primarily in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia — could expect to see combined yearly carbon tax revenue benefits of just zero to $3 million.Now a new Leger poll commissioned by the CTF shows four-in-five want last month’s carve out extended to more than just home heating oil to cover all forms of heating. “The poll is crystal clear: more than three-quarters of Atlantic Canadians don’t think the government should be taxing people for heating their homes,” said Canadian Taxpayers Federation Federal Director Franco Terrazzano..“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried to buy off MPs in the region with his carbon tax carve-out, but Atlantic Canadians are demanding relief that’s fair for everyone,”Canadian Taxpayers Federation federal director Franco Terrazzano.But given their generally hospitable disposition, Newfies, Newbies, Spud Islanders and Blue Nosers think it should be extended to all Canadians in all parts of the country, not just to buy off their own votes. “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried to buy off MPs in the region with his carbon tax carve-out, but Atlantic Canadians are demanding relief that’s fair for everyone,” Terrazzano added.The bill for that would be significantly higher, given that just 3% of Canadian households use bunker fuel — low grade diesel — to heat their homes in winter. That figure is about 40% in the Maritimes.The premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan, Danielle Smith and Scott Moe, have called for the moratorium to be extended to cover all forms of home heating, including natural gas. Saskatchewan has gone as far as to order its Crown corporation SaskEnergy to stop remitting Ottawa’s carbon surcharge altogether, effective January 1. The move is expected to save households about $400 per year.Although BC isn’t asking for an exemption, it also thinks the policy is unfair because it collects its own carbon taxes and wouldn’t be eligible in any event..Despite the almost universal pleas for basic fairness — keeping warm in winter is a shared cultural value in this country — the Liberals aren’t budging even though they’ve been accused of hijacking their own climate policies for political expediency. Earlier this month, an unlikely coalition of Conservative and NDP MPs voted to remove the carbon tax on all forms of home heating, but was opted by the Liberals and the Bloc.On its website Leger said no margin of error could be assigned to the online sample of 402 Atlantic residents. For comparative purposes, however, it said the probability sample is equivalent to 1,001 respondents from Ontario with a 2.2% margin of error, 19 times out of 20.
