Feds unveil rebate plan for carbon tax

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged more than $2 billion in annual carbon tax rebates Tuesday as his Liberal government tried to persuade Canadians that putting a price on pollution is the best way to halt climate change.

Trudeau’s plan to slash Canada’s emissions was scoffed at by critics on both sides of the carbon tax argument. Groups that favour carbon prices argued Canada’s proposed cuts were nowhere near big enough with opponents accusing the government of buying votes to outright lying about whether the rebates will really offset the increased cost to families.

Trudeau said there is both a “moral and economic imperative to act” to manage climate change so the next generations of Canadians aren’t left in a world where monster storms and massive droughts burn up or flood out major portions of the planet.

“Will we kick this can down the road yet again to be dealt with in another place or at another time, or will we show some courage and do what needs to be done for this generation and the next?” he said, addressing students at Humber College in Toronto.

Trudeau promised a national price on carbon in the 2015 campaign. In 2016, he told provinces if they didn’t introduce their own price on carbon Ottawa would do it for them.

Four provinces did not, and so on April 1, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick residents will start paying a $20 per tonne carbon tax on fossil fuels.

It will add around $2 to a tank of gas, or $8 to a monthly natural gas bill. The prices of many consumer goods and services will also go up to reflect the carbon tax that businesses pay. Ottawa estimates people in those provinces will pay between $202 and $403 more, on average, because of the carbon tax in 2019-20. To minimize the impact of those costs, residents in those provinces will get carbon price rebates when they file their income taxes that range from an average $248 in New Brunswick, to $598 in Saskatchewan.