EDITORIAL: Public skeptical about Carney’s new carbon tax

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Canadians aren’t buying Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s promise that he’s working on a magical new carbon tax where “big polluters” pay the costs instead of the public for the good reason that no such tax exists.

A survey by Leger for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation of 1,631 adults from April 4-7 found that 70% of Canadians believe businesses pass along most (44%) or some (26%) of the added costs they face to the public because of the federal industrial carbon tax.

Only 9% believe businesses absorb most of the costs without hiking prices, while 21% say they don’t know.

That means among those with an opinion, 89% believe businesses will pass along most or some of their added costs to the public.

Meanwhile, we’re still waiting for the details of Carney’s magical carbon pricing plan, which he introduced while running for Liberal leader, claiming it would make “big polluters’ pay for industrial emissions.

From what little we know of it, Carney intends to fold the consumer carbon tax on 22 different forms of fossil fuel energy, including gasoline and home heating fuel, into an “improved and tightened” industrial carbon tax, while extending its current application by five years to 2035 from 2030.

That means that, unlike the current system, Canadians won’t know how much they’re paying or how it will impact their standard of living because the carbon price will be hidden from them, given that consumer prices are impacted by a variety of factors.

Carney says this new carbon pricing system will financially reward consumers who purchase low carbon-intensity goods in place of rebates under the previous system, as well as reward “big polluters” who lower emissions — details to come.

Bottom line? Carbon pricing imposes a new cost on Canadians — the cost of emitting industrial greenhouse gases into the atmosphere — and those costs are ultimately paid by Canadians, either in the form of higher prices or taxes.

There’s no free lunch when it comes to carbon pricing.

As CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano put it, “The poll shows Canadians understand that a carbon tax on business is a carbon tax on Canadians that makes life more expensive … Canadians have a simple question for Carney: ‘How much will your carbon tax cost?’”

Good question. How much, indeed?