{"id":207933,"date":"2019-03-31T23:00:03","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T03:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=207933"},"modified":"2019-03-31T23:00:03","modified_gmt":"2019-04-01T03:00:03","slug":"new-carbon-tax-starts-coming-in-for-4-provinces-that-fought-the-federal-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/03\/31\/new-carbon-tax-starts-coming-in-for-4-provinces-that-fought-the-federal-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"New carbon tax starts coming in for 4 provinces that fought the federal plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The starting rate adds 4.4 cents to the price of a litre of gas, about four cents to a cubic metre of natural gas, and also drives up the cost of propane, butane and aviation fuel. (Pixabay photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

People in Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick will be paying more for gasoline and heating fuel Monday when the federal government’s\u00a0carbon\u00a0tax\u00a0begins in provinces that refused to impose their own emissions pricing.<\/p>\n

The federal\u00a0tax\u00a0is $20 a tonne for this year and is set to increase by $10 annually until it reaches $50 a tonne in April 2022.<\/p>\n

The starting rate adds 4.4 cents to the price of a litre of gas, about four cents to a cubic metre of natural gas, and also drives up the cost of propane, butane and aviation fuel.<\/p>\n

There is uncertainty about how widespread the impact will be, how businesses will receive rebates, and whether the\u00a0tax\u00a0will survive court challenges underway in two of the rebel provinces.<\/p>\n

Todd Lewis, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, said while farm fuel is exempt from the\u00a0carbon\u00a0tax, the levy does apply to that used in commercial trucks and trains moving grain off farms and bringing in seed and equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we move our commodities, we’re going to have increased costs. Simple as that,\u201d Lewis said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s no way for us to pass these costs along. If you’re a grocery store or a dry cleaner, if you’re costs go up, you can pass them along to the consumers, but we participate in a world market.\u201d<\/p>\n

The business community also has unanswered questions. The federal government has yet to reveal details about a program to rebate some of the increased costs faced by small- and medium-sized businesses.<\/p>\n

Residents of the four provinces will be getting rebates as well on their income\u00a0tax\u00a0returns. The rebates start at $128 annually, vary between provinces and increase for people with spouses or dependents at home.<\/p>\n

The federal government says the\u00a0carbon\u00a0tax\u00a0is a sensible way to protect the environment \u2014 put a price on activities that pollute to discourage emissions, and give back most or all of the money through income taxes.<\/p>\n

The holdout premiers have been vocal in their criticism.<\/p>\n

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has described the\u00a0carbon\u00a0levy as a \u201cjob-killing\u201d\u00a0tax\u00a0that will increase prices on everything. He has warned that it could cause a recession \u2014 a claim economists dispute.<\/p>\n

Ford has tweeted nearly daily about the\u00a0tax\u00a0over the last two weeks \u2014 his caucus members have contributed dozens more \u2014 and has held news conferences to rail about it.<\/p>\n

An Ontario court is set to hear the government’s constitutional challenge of the\u00a0carbon\u00a0tax\u00a0in April. A Saskatchewan court has already heard similar arguments and is expected to deliver its verdict shortly.<\/p>\n

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs’s government argues the\u00a0tax\u00a0will punish the province’s large rural population because there’s no option to ditch vehicles for public transit.<\/p>\n

In Manitoba, Progressive Conservative Premier Brian Pallister initially intended to implement a lower\u00a0carbon\u00a0tax, and demanded the province be recognized for spending billions to build clean hydroelectric infrastructure. He dropped the idea and joined the protesting provinces when Ottawa refused to accept the lower rate.<\/p>\n

Pallister said the\u00a0tax\u00a0comes at a time of economic uncertainty for Manitobans.<\/p>\n

\u201cUncertainties for people who are concerned about trade … or people who are concerned about higher interest rates for mortgages when they come up for renewal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pallister suggests the federal rebates may not be enough to offset increased costs businesses will face, which could be passed on to consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposed plan does not consider … the multiplier effects of these taxes on the people we buy things from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beverly Gilbert, a Calgary\u00a0tax\u00a0adviser, says the\u00a0carbon\u00a0tax\u00a0will affect Canada’s competitiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. does not have any kind of\u00a0carbon\u00a0levy or\u00a0carbon\u00a0charge so it makes it more difficult to compete internationally,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Speaking Sunday in Brampton, Ont., federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer denounced the\u00a0tax\u00a0as just another way to take money from Canadians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Liberal\u00a0carbon\u00a0tax\u00a0is not an environmental plan,\u201d Scheer said. \u201cThis is nothing but a\u00a0tax\u00a0grab.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 With files from Stephanie Taylor in Regina, Allison Jones in Toronto, Holly McKenzie-Sutter in St. John’s, Nfld., and Dan Healing in Calgary<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People in Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick will be paying more for gasoline and heating fuel Monday when the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":182058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-steve-lambert","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207935,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207933\/revisions\/207935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}