Axe the tax: MP Motz

Posted on November 28, 2024 by admin

Canadians are painfully aware of the current cost of living crisis. The increases in gas, home heating, food, and almost all of life’s necessities are a direct result of the NDP-Liberal coalition governments’ punishing carbon tax. What seems lost on this government is the basic concept that increased carbon taxes at every stage of supply chains mean Canadians pay more, making life less affordable.    

The 23 per cent increase in the carbon tax this past April had significant impact on Canadian households. Families are paying $700 more for food this year, forcing Canadians to eat less, skip meals, or buy less healthy food, just to make ends meet. Millions are lining up at food banks. If Trudeau and his coalition are allowed to move forward with his plan to quadruple the carbon tax to 61 cents a litre by 2030, the economic fallout across the nation will be devasting.  

This year alone, the carbon tax will add almost $2 billion to annual trucking costs in Canada, according to the Canadian Trucking Alliance. By 2030, the carbon tax related costs will add more than $4 billion annually, or about 15 per cent. Over the 12-year carbon tax phase in, the cost to the trucking industry alone will be more than $26 billion and these costs will be passed on to businesses, which in turn will pass them on to consumers.

Currently, the carbon tax is costing our economy about $25 billion a year. According to the Fraser Institute, Canada’s top research think-tank, by 2030 the carbon tax will cost the average Canadian worker $6,700, reduce our country’s GDP by 6.2 per cent, and result in 164,000 fewer jobs. Over half of Albertans are $200 or less away from being unable to meet their bills and debt obligations every month.

Yet, despite these impacts on Canadians, plus the fact that the premiers of 10 provinces and over 70 per cent of Canadians oppose the carbon tax, Common Sense Conservatives are the only ones demanding the coalition government ‘axe the tax’.  

When will enough be enough? When will the NDP and Bloc finally stop propping up the Trudeau Liberals?  NDP leader Singh, who voted in favour of the carbon tax 24 times including increases, is now saying that the carbon tax is a burden on the backs of working people. Surely, this newfound wisdom has nothing to do with his low polling numbers or was it a stunt to hang on to a NDP stronghold in a recent by-election? We all know talk is cheap. The NDP and the Bloc have a choice to make: will they sell out to Trudeau again or will they vote non-confidence in Trudeau and his government and do right by Canadians? It’s time to put their words into action for Canadians.  

When common sense Conservatives form the next government, we will axe the tax, fix the budget, build the homes and stop the crime. 

MP Glen Motz,
Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner