TERRAZZANO: Don't let Carney get away with this!

Franco Terrazzano is the Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers FederationThe carbon tax is wobbling, but taxpayers need someone to deliver the knockout blow. Taxpayers need the two toughest carbon-tax critics to find their voices again and push back against Liberal leadership front-runner Mark Carney’s hidden carbon tax on business.There are two premiers with the track record do the job. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe deserve credit for taking real action to fight the federal carbon tax.Smith launched a renewed court challenge against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after he torpedoed constitutionality of the carbon tax by giving an exemption for furnace oil — a fuel source popular only in Atlantic Canada.“Albertans simply cannot stand by for another winter while the federal government picks and chooses who their carbon tax applies to,” Smith said. “Since they won’t play fair, we’re going to take the federal government back to court.”Moe also took action following Trudeau’s carve-out, ordering his provincial Crown corporation to stop charging the carbon tax on the natural gas used to heat homes. Moe is saving the average Saskatchewan family about $400 a year.Now Carney is threatening to impose a hidden industrial carbon tax on the provinces. It’s the same Ottawa-knows-best intrusion Trudeau tried. Smith and Moe need to stop this repackaged carbon tax before it gets started.Carney wants to “improve and tighten” Trudeau’s industrial carbon tax and “extend the [tax’s] framework to 2035.”“So in changing the carbon tax … We are making the large companies pay for everybody,” Carney said.The federal industrial carbon tax is a mandatory minimum tax. Either the provinces meet Ottawa’s requirement, or the federal government imposes its own tax. Under Trudeau, the industrial carbon tax was set to increase every year until it reached $170/tonne in 2030. While Carney has been vague, extending the current framework to 2035 would increase the industrial carbon tax to $245/tonne – more than 200 per cent higher than the current tax.Here’s the key takeaway: Carney appears ready to force the provincial governments to increase the carbon tax on oil and gas companies, power plants, fertilizer and potash producers. For Albertans and Saskatchewanians, that will mean higher prices and fewer jobs.A carbon tax on business is a carbon tax on consumers. And Canadians understand this simple reality.Just 12 per cent of people believe Carney when he claims businesses will pay most of the cost of an industrial carbon tax, according to a Leger poll. Meanwhile, 70 per cent said businesses would pass most or some of those costs on to consumers. The cost of a hidden carbon tax goes beyond the upward pressure on prices — it’s a threat to the Canadian economy.All premiers need to stand up for Canada’s economy with the Trump administration threatening to poach businesses.Put yourself in the shoes of a Canadian business owner. Should you increase production in Canada, or in the U.S.? Carney’s carbon tax plan would push you toward the latter. And less production in Canada means higher prices and fewer jobs.Carney’s carbon tax is another example of Ottawa imposing its will on the provinces. Ottawa forced Alberta and Saskatchewan to accept mandatory minimum carbon taxes that increase every year until 2030. Now Carney says he will extend the hidden carbon tax on business and presumably increase it even further.Alberta and Saskatchewan politicians were right to fight back when Trudeau encroached on their jurisdiction with his carbon tax. And they would be right to fight back against Carney’s intrusion too.Moe and Smith deserve credit for fighting the federal carbon tax every step of the way. But their fight isn’t over.They should continue to stick up for their taxpayers, fight Ottawa’s intrusion and speak out against Carney’s attempt to hammer businesses with carbon taxes.Franco Terrazzano is the Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

TERRAZZANO: Don't let Carney get away with this!

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