Conservatives are calling on Liberal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault to testify in a House of Commons Committee over a plan to create a new global carbon tax on international shipping.“This tax money would then be sent abroad to other countries,” said Conservatives in a Wednesday press release, noting the tax would further drive-up costs for Canadians. According to the Association of Canadian Port Authorities, Canada's ports create $17 billion in annual economic output. The marine sector supports 353,760 jobs. “This new tax on maritime transportation would undoubtedly drive investment and business away from our already struggling port system, putting strong union jobs at risk,” said Conservatives.“On top of this, a tax on shipping is a tax on the goods that are being shipped. At a time when 2 million people are using food banks every month, Canadians can’t afford another failed Liberal tax grab. The carbon tax is nothing more than an expensive scam. It has done nothing to reduce emissions, while dramatically increasing the cost of living on the backs of working Canadians.” On Wednesday, Guilbeault posted an Environment Canada statement on social media that said carbon pricing was discussed at COP29 in Azerbaijan and is viewed by international leaders as a significant method for driving investment in clean technologies and “accelerating economic growth.”“Canada is more invested than ever in ensuring collective global action that responds to the growing costs of climate change and a shift toward a low-carbon clean economy,” said Guilbeault in a statement.According to conservatives, the Parliamentary Budget Officer has confirmed Canadians incur a net cost from Guilbeault’s current carbon tax, with residents paying more in tax than received in rebates.“In fact, the NDP-Liberal tax will cost the average person $652 in Newfoundland and Labrador, $575 in PEI, $580 in Nova Scotia, $457 in New Brunswick, $903 in Ontario, $693 in Manitoba, $894 in Saskatchewan, and $697 in Alberta,” said Conservatives.“This corroborates the NDP-Liberal government’s own data, which they tried to hide from Canadians, showing that the carbon tax will cost the Canadian economy $30.5 billion per year by 2030.”Carbon taxes increase the cost of living for Canadians, say Conservatives.“But instead of giving Canadians the relief they deserve, Trudeau decided to hike his carbon tax by 23 percent last spring, as part of his plan to quadruple the carbon tax by 2030.”An estimate of Canada’s current carbon-absorption based on land area and the earth's carbon-absorption average, indicates Canada may already be absorbing 20 to 30% more CO2 than it emits, reported the Financial Post in 2016."Using the same calculation, the “Big Four” polluters of China, the U.S., the European Union, and India, which together are responsible for a whopping 60 per cent of global CO2 emissions, release 10 times more CO2 than their combined land area absorbs," reported the Post.
