Natural resources minister defends carbon tax as provinces pile on

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says provincial premiers who are calling on the govern‐ ment to scrap a planned in‐ crease on the carbon tax have their facts wrong.

In an interview airing Sun‐ day on Rosemary Barton Live, Wilkinson defended the federal government's land‐ mark climate policy against a growing chorus of provincial leaders who hope to either delay or ditch altogether the impending April 1 increase.

"Based on the facts, the seven premiers are just wrong," Wilkinson told guest host David Common.

Wilkinson's comments are a continuation of a defence of the carbon tax by federal officials - including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau - on the grounds of affordability. Removing or pausing the car‐ bon tax, they argue, would hurt more people than it helps, because of reduced re‐ bates.

Provincial premiers from across the country have protested the coming in‐ crease, which will raise the tax to $80 per tonne from $65. The federal government counters that eight out of 10 Canadians receive more in rebates from the tax than they shell out.

Wilkinson said Sunday that the government needs to do more to convince Cana‐ dians of the policy's benefits.

"I think we do need to do a better job of communicat‐ ing the affordability dimen‐ sions of the price on pollu‐ tion, because it is something that makes life more afford‐ able," he said.

WATCH | The fed-prov fight over the carbon tax continues:

The carbon tax has been a primary point of attack for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who on Friday held a "Spike the Hike" event in Saint John, N.B., where he highlighted two parliamen‐ tary motions that will come to a vote this week calling for the increase and broader tax to be scrapped.

Part of the disagreement between the two parties arises from a Parliamentary Budget Office report from two years ago, which presen‐ ted two models for testing the impact of the tax when it tops out in 2030. Liberals point to the fiscal analysis in‐ cluded in the report that indi‐ cated most families would profit from the policy, while Conservatives seized on a broader economic model that showed negative conse‐ quences for the economy dragging down Canadians' fi‐ nancial wellbeing.

Provincial pushback

In a separate interview on Rosemary Barton Live air‐ ing Sunday, Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy said that while his govern‐ ment was supportive of the fight against climate change, the cost of living challenge was front and centre.

"Now is not the time to in‐ crease another tax," he told Common.

"Our message now is pause or cut the tax. There are different ways to net zero."

Saskatchewan has been at the forefront of the provincial fight against the tax, going so far as to refuse to remit the carbon tax collected on nat‐ ural gas used for home heat‐ ing, in defiance of the federal law.

"Our view is that if the prime minister thought that a reduction in the carbon tax and a reduction in the rebate for Atlantic Canadians meant that would be a net positive in terms of affordability for those residents, surely the economics should hold true for Saskatchewan," said Dustin Duncan, the minister responsible for SaskEnergy.

WATCH | Ontario minis‐ ter says carbon tax in‐ crease should be delayed:

"Clearly, there have to be consequences," Wilkinson said Sunday.

What those consequences may be is something that is "actively under discussion," he added.

"I don't know how [Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe] expects that folks that live within his provincial boundaries will have respect for the laws that he passes through the legislature given what he has done."