A new poll from the Angus Reid Institute finds at least 40% of Canadians want the carbon tax scrapped in their province, except Quebec.Compared to November 2023, the proportion of Canadians supporting an increase in the carbon tax in their province has risen seven points from 15% to 22%. Two-in-five would-be voters for the Liberals, NDP and BQ all say they would increase the tax as planned, while a similar number say that they would pause it at its current level..The ARI numbers show the would-be supporters are a much smaller group than they were at this time last year. The vast majority of those who would support the Conservatives would “axe the tax” (75%) or at least lower it (9%). This, as the party leads in vote intention by a nearly two-to-one margin over the Liberals.With help from the Bloc Québécois and the NDP, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals survived a non-confidence motion last week that Conservative MPs hoped would force an election, based on a single-ballot issue: the carbon tax.Amid a rebranding of the "Canada carbon rebate” the number of Canadians who are certain they receive the benefit (+7), or think they do (+2), have both increased since November. Although a plurality of Canadians still feel they are not making as much back as they pay (44%), more see a net benefit from the program (14% to 19%).Most Canadians currently say that cost of living concerns (56%) should outweigh climate change concerns (31%) when making economic policy (with the remainder unsure). This is highest among those 45 to 54 years old, where 70% say cost-of-living is primary and only 19% believe the fight to combat climate change is worth the increased cost of living..Two-in-five Canadians (40%) say the carbon tax is making their life “a lot” more expensive. One-quarter (26%) say it’s increasing their cost of living “a little”, while just four per cent say it is saving them money.Women under 35 were the least likely to know whether carbon taxes were making their lives more expensive or not (28%) and the most likely to say it made no difference (20%)..Criticism of the carbon tax is driven by a sense that it is ineffective at reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions (68% say this). Even though Canada has less than 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions, percentages were almost even as to whether carbon taxes reduced carbon emissions in Canada, let alone the world..Manitoba has called on the federal government to pause this year's increase to the carbon tax. The federal government has said it has no plans to pause the increase, arguing that the carbon rebate ensures the tax does not impact affordability for most Canadians. Opposition to the tax in Manitoba (47%) trails that in Atlantic Canada (57%), Alberta (57%), and Saskatchewan (61%)..The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has alleged Quebec is getting special treatment. Last year, as the rest of the country had a 14-cent-per-litre carbon tax on gas, it was only 10 cents in Quebec due to the province's embrace of a cap-and-trade system on carbon emissions.
