I was disappointed and ashamed to see Parry Sound Muskoka MP Scott Aitchison shilling for big oil companies when he travelled to Sudbury to protest carbon pricing at a Liberal MP’s office on March 28.
Conservatives aren’t telling the whole truth about the impacts of carbon pricing.
Knowing in 2019 that gasoline would be subject to a rising carbon price, I changed my behaviour and began exploring electric and hybrid vehicles while looking to replace my 12-year-old car.
In 2020 I bought a year-old Honda plug-in hybrid. It cost $2,400 more than a new 2020 Honda Civic with the same options.
Over three years, my plug-in hybrid has travelled at an annual average rate of 76 miles per gallon (3.7 litres per 100 km). During the warm weeks of summer, when the battery charges more fully, it gets 93 miles per gallon. The car has cut my gas expenses by 40 per cent, saving me about $800 a year.
In 2023, I paid a total of $116.70 in carbon pricing on the gas I consumed. The Climate Action Incentive payment to my household was $805.20.
The April 1 increase in the carbon price means I will pay an additional $26.00 annually or $2.17 cents monthly (the cost of a large Tim Hortons coffee). How can anyone claim this is unaffordable?
If Conservative politicians across the country were serious about lowering the cost of living, they’d be pressing oil companies to reduce their take at the pump by lowering gas prices. Canadian oil patch profits were expected to reach $78 billion in 2023. In 2022, they were estimated at $120 billion.
Why don’t politicians demand that Loblaw boss Galen Weston (who personally made $11.79 million in 2022) and other grocers, who posted a record $6 billion in profits last year, cut food prices?
Why doesn’t Ontario premier Doug Ford ask his developer buddies to cut their profits, lower the cost of new homes and build houses that people can actually afford. Ontario never had carbon pricing until Doug Ford got elected and scrapped the emissions cap and trade system, which didn’t cost us anything.
Don’t all these provincial premiers whining about the carbon price have any real work to do? There are plenty more important local issues that need the attention of honest politicians.
Walter Franczyk
Bracebridge
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Bob Braan says
Both federal and provincial Conservatives are telling tall tales. Over and over.
It’s insulting.
They make no sense at all.
Drama Queens Poilievre, Doug Ford and Dani Smith are screaming about a measly 3.2 cents a litre when gas varies more than that every week.
PP called it unaffordable and tried to force a non-confidence vote and Dani even called it “Inhumane.” LOL.
While both ignored the fact the carbon tax rebate went up a matching amount so it makes no difference at all.
In fact gas is down FAR more than the total carbon tax of 17 cents per litre from the $2 peak last year.
Search ” “LETTER: Axing the controversial carbon tax ‘makes no sense” where the writer calls out Conservative lies.
and search “Fossil fuel subsidies cost Canadians a lot more money than the carbon tax.”
You think the carbon tax is expensive?
It’s rebated.
Doing nothing about climate change, as in the PC plan, is extremely expensive and responsible for a big part of inflation.
Unlike the carbon tax which is rebated.
The carbon tax has a tiny effect on inflation according to the BOC.
But climate change is already costing us a bundle.
Search “From chocolate to home insurance, climate change is making life more expensive.”
Conservatives make no sense at all.
Their constant lies are insulting to Canadians.
Fact check them yourself.
Most people know by now you can’t believe anything Doug Ford says.
Constant lies. It’s insulting.
Ford claims he’s at 99% of his housing target right now.
Only because he started counting LTC beds and basements as homes.
Next up?
Counting the tents and cardboard homes of the homeless.
That will put him over the top.
Search “Ford government begins boosting housing numbers with LTC beds, basements”
More “alternative facts” from Doug Ford.
Rob Adams says
There is no bigger liar in Canadian politics than Trudeau. He’s shown time and time again that he can’t be trusted, and we can’t believe anything this Liberal government says. He is manipulative and self-serving. He lied his way through the pandemic, he’s given billions of our tax money to the tyrant in Ukraine and his immigration policy is not only ridiculous, but also a big factor in the housing crisis. I’m not suggesting the Conservatives are any better, but it’s hard to buy into the climate change rhetoric when these governments follow their own agenda and lie to the people they are supposed to represent.
Laurel Turansky says
I am glad to see people are standing up and exposing conservative bs. Poilieve keeps saying he will do so much better for Canadians but never saya how. Not unlike Fords platfoms- speak lots say nothing, and look at the damage he has done to Ontario. Spending so much time talking bs about the carbon tax is just a distraction that they are saying nothing about how they will carry out their plans to fix Canada. Has ford done anything to fix Ontario – bulking up his and his developer friends financial portfolios doesnt cut it.
Andrew Sommers says
There are those who benefit from carbon rebates and those who don’t! I for one pay out far more than I get in return. People need to understand that there are those who will benefit and those who won’t and shouldn’t assume everyone is like them. As the environment minister has stated he is unable to tell us where the money is going, maybe we should find that out before everyone starts pointing fingers at each other. Let’s be tolerant of each other folks and work towards a solution that truly meets the end goal! Remember this as well, if the true polluters (China, India etc.) aren’t on side then it will have all been for not!!
Peggy Tupper says
There is no tax anywhere that will change the weather. Our climate has been changing for billions of years and will continue to do so regardless of human activity and the amount of taxes Canadians pay.
Anyone who believes in man made “climate change” is gullible and delusional. The sooner we all realize this, the sooner the politicians of all stripes will move on to some other fictional disaster waiting to happen.
Bob Braan says
For a list of 26 articles that debunk fanatical PC lies regarding the carbon tax and energy go to:
https://doppleronline.ca/huntsville/to-a-good-future/
Here are a few more
27. Tumble in storage battery costs to boost shift to renewables, says IEA
“The combination of solar PV (photovoltaic) and batteries is today competitive with new coal plants in India,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.”
“And just in the next few years, it will be cheaper than new coal in China and gas-fired power in the United States. Batteries are changing the game before our eyes.”
28. Batteries the biggest player again as renewable records smashed in California, reach 156 pct of load | RenewEconomy
“battery storage became, for the first time, the largest supply source in the evening peak of what is one of the world’s largest grids.”
29. Explosive Growth – How Green Energy Fuels the Economic Boom
“since 2021, more workers have been employed in the “clean” energy sector than in the fossil sector”
“It states that renewable energies made up ten percent of growth in global Gross Domestic Product – equivalent to 320 billion dollars.”
Don’t believe those who parrot Conservative lies. Over and over.
It’s insulting.