Tory MPP wants bills to show carbon tax
With a federal carbon tax on the horizon, Infrastructure Minister and Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Monte McNaughton is championing legislation to ensure the cost to consumers shows up as a separate line item on gas bills and some receipts in Ontario. McNaughton, who introduced a similar private member’s bill under the last government in response to Ontario’s now-repealed cap-and-trade system, wants to see the tax itemized on gas receipts, gas pumps and natural gas bills. “Our government is vowing to use every tool necessary to expose the cost of (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau’s carbon tax on people,” McNaughton said. “It’s all about bringing this transparency.” The policy is part of Bill 57, the Restoring Trust, Transparency and Accountability Act, and was also listed in the province’s fall economic outlook.
Bill 57, tabled by Finance Minister Vic Fedeli, has passed its second reading.
Messages seeking response from Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna’s office were not returned Thursday. The proposed law is the latest in the ongoing spat between the provincial Progressive Conservative government and the federal Liberal government over its planned nationwide carbon pricing program. After Doug Ford’s PCs swept to victory in the June election, the new government repealed the previous provincial Liberal government’s cap-and-trade scheme. The federal government has said it will impose its pollution pricing system on provinces that have not adopted their own initiatives or signed on with the national program, specifically New Brunswick, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario.
In its fall economic statement, the provincial government reaffirmed its staunch opposition to the federal carbon tax plan and vowed to use “every tool within its jurisdiction” to fight its implementation. McNaughton said his bill is a pre-emptive move, designed to increase transparency if a federal carbon tax is put in place in Ontario in 2019.
“It’s about standing up for taxpayers,” he said. “I continue to call on businesses and my constituents to contact Liberal MPs across Ontario and across Canada to pressure Trudeau not to implement this.”