No Relief from Carbon Tax in the North

Instead of asking for our own exemption like Atlantic Canada, MP Marc Serre asked his government to increase carbon taxes.

This week, the federal government finally caved on parts of its carbon tax program that adds up to 15% or more to your heating and fuel bills. The Canadian carbon tax program started in 2019 and is drastically increasing the price of fossil fuels every year in order to incentivize the country to stop relying on them. The carbon tax is an important political topic, especially for people in Northern Ontario because such a significant portion of our expenses are related to heating our homes. Northerners don’t really have the option of relying on electric heat pumps or other so-called green heating sources. Our harsh winters mean we will be relying on fossil fuels to survive for many years to come.

Currently the government taxes carbon at $65 per tonne (equating to approximately a 15% surcharge on your heating and gas) but this is set to rise to $170 per tonne in the next seven years (which would equate to nearly a 50% surcharge).

The carbon tax has worsened the problem of inflation and the Trudeau government has been under a lot of pressure to scrap it. So this week they decided that one source of fuel would now be exempt. Although the carbon tax program is meant to incentivize people to stop using high polluting fossil fuels, the Liberal government decided to exempt the highest polluting heating source in the country: Heating oil.

This proves that the latest move has absolutely nothing to do with the environment and has everything to do with politics. The Liberals have decided that the fossil fuels in one part of Canada (the Atlantic provinces) are okay while the pollutants in the rest of the country need to be taxed.

As reported by the National Post,

The Atlantic provinces have been a stronghold for Trudeau since his election in 2015, with him holding every seat after the 2015 campaign, but several recent polls show him losing his hold over the region.

So the Liberals have exempted Atlantic Canada from carbon taxes for political purposes…

No Relief for Northern Ontario

One of the main reasons that Trudeau has flip flopped on Atlantic Canada is because one of his own MPs has forced his hand. The Liberal MP from Newfoundland, Ken McDonald has twice voted against his own government in favour of scrapping the carbon tax. Obviously choosing to represent his constituents rather the Liberal party’s ambitious carbon neutral goals.

Like Atlantic Canada, Northern Ontario is disproportionately represented by Liberals and their NDP allies (Liberals hold 6 ridings in the north, NDP holds 2, CPC holds 2). The poll aggregate 338Canada.com is currently projecting that the Liberals will lose at least 9 out of the 10 northern ridings next elections (they have a small chance at re-winning Thunder Bay).

So why hasn’t Trudeau offered this historical Liberal stronghold an exemption like he did to his Atlantic Canada MPs?

Because his northern MPs are not fighting back. On the contrary, northern Liberals are actually pushing Trudeau to increase carbon taxes, not eliminate them.

Last week, instead of pushing for our own exemption on propane or natural gas in the north, MP Marc Serre asked the federal government to “move forward with bold emission caps”. Serre is a devowed environmentalist who is fully on board with tripling the carbon tax. A quick browse of his Facebook page sees him lobby for environmental causes on a weekly basis.

In recent years the government of Canada has actually been trying very hard to get people to ditch oil heat. Last year, the general manager of the Co-op Regionale in Verner told CBC that thousands in our area were switching to propane. This prompted them to build a new $1.5M propane storage tank that can visibly be seen when passing through Verner.

But tough luck for those who may have listened to Marc Serre and scrapped their oil furnace. Because if they would have kept it, they would be exempt from carbon taxes today thanks to the Liberal MPs in Atlantic Canada who would be looking out for them.

As for vast majority of Nickel Belt who rely on natural gas and propane, we will just have to deal with our soon to be 50% surcharge on the only way to heat our homes.

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