LESSONS FROM FUEL PROTESTS
Are Canada and France similar?
• After weeks of protests that saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets, culminating in the worst rioting Paris has seen in a decade, the French government backed down Tuesday and promised to delay a fuel tax hike slated for January.
President Emmanuel Macron had previously insisted that the tax increase would go ahead. But Macron was under growing pressure to calm the “gilets jaunes” protests, particularly after the weekend.
In Canada, the protests are being closely watched by those who see a parallel between Macron's fuel tax and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's carbon tax, to be applied next year in provinces that don't have their own carbon price in place.
But are there really similarities? The answer, it seems, is sort of — but only sort of.
ARE THE FRENCH PROTESTING A CARBON TAX?
Yes and no.
The “gilets jaunes” (yellow vests) protests began as demonstrations against a planned increase in the tax on vehicle fuel. Macron had already increased the fuel tax this year by 11 cents per litre for diesel and six cents for gasoline, and was planning a further increase of 10 cents per litre for diesel and four cents for gasoline in January.
Drivers say they're being taxed to the limit, and lowand middle-income families in rural areas are bearing a disproportionate share of the burden.
But the protests are amorphous, attracting people from both sides of the political spectrum. The demonstrators are angry about rising taxes and falling purchasing power more broadly, about Macron's tax cuts for the wealthy, and about a feeling that the government is out of touch with everyday people.
HOW SIMILAR IS FRANCE’S CARBON TAX TO CANADA’S?
Not very.
France's fuel tax is already nearly $67 per tonne of carbon emissions, and expected to rise to nearly $130 per tonne in 2022. In contrast, Canada's federal carbon tax will kick in at $20 per tonne in 2019, rising to $50 per tonne in 2022.
There's also an important difference in how the revenue is to be used. While Trudeau has promised 90 per cent of the revenue will be returned to households as rebates, Macron is using the money to tackle the national debt.
In France, taxes account for about 64 per cent of the price of gasoline, while in Canada, taxes make up 25 to 40 per cent of the pump price.
Still, the principle of the two policies is the same. “Remember, that's where we're going. If we're actually going to hit our Paris targets … the gas prices are heading to where they are in France,” said Aaron Wudrick, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
COULD WE SEE PROTESTS LIKE THIS IN CANADA?
Probably not.
It's not that Canadians never protest. But our protests, when they do happen, generally have a milder flavour. When Trudeau travelled to Calgary last month, for instance, about 2,000 protesters shut down part of the downtown core to demand he do more to support the energy sector, chanting “Build that pipe!” in a menacing sort of way.
“We need pipelines,” read one large banner. “Bill C-69 is an absolutely devastating piece of legislation,” read another, referring to the Liberals' contentious environmental assessment bill. It wasn't quite the same as tens of thousands of French protesters blocking roads and building barricades.
WHAT LESSONS SHOULD CANADA LEARN?
There's still a “pretty strong parallel” between what's happening in France and how people are feeling in Canada, Wudrick said. He pointed to similarities between the urban-rural divide in Canada and France, and a similar sense among rural voters that they're being unfairly targeted.
“At the end of the day, if you really want to see how strongly people are committed to the idea of fighting climate change, ask them if they're willing to pay twice as much for gas,” he said.