Don’t stand for Doug Ford’s sticker shock

Whatever Ontarians think about the federal carbon tax, whether they love it or loath it, they should be able to agree Doug Ford has chosen the worst possible way to fight it.

The premier of Ontario is forcing — and there’s no other word for it — gas station operators across Ontario to join his very political crusade to kill carbon pricing.

As you read this, thousands of gas-pump decals warning against Ottawa’s carbon-pricing measures are being sent to every gas station in the province where they must be in place on every pump by Aug. 30.

The stickers read: “The federal carbon tax will cost you,” before indicating how the 4.4-cent-a-litre tax implemented this year will rise to 11 cents in 2020, and then listing the provincial government website that will explain more. More Progressive Conservative propaganda, that is.

Every gas station operator must obey the province’s diktat to display these stickers. Those don’t face fines of up to $10,000 a day.

This is real sticker shock. And it’s an outrageous infringement on individual freedom.

Governments can and do on occasion legitimately require businesses to post information that is in the consumer’s interest. For instance, all food-service chains with 20 or more locations in Ontario must post the number of calories in the food and drinks they serve. That information is meant to help people make informed and healthy choices for what they eat.

But requiring some restaurants to count calories for their patrons is not a partisan issue. They’re providing neutral information rather than advancing one political cause over another.

That’s not how it is with the gas-pump decals. Premier Ford’s government is involved in a high-profile campaign to discredit and, hopefully, destroy the carbon tax Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed on provinces such as Ontario, which didn’t have a comparable measure in place. That tax is a major part of the federal government’s plan to fight climate change.

Ford’s government is so opposed to this carbon tax that it’s spending $30 million on an anti-carbon-pricing advertising campaign along with a legal challenge. As the elected government of this province, Ford’s Progressive Conservatives have the right to do many of these things. They should not have the right to force gas station operators to join their carbon-tax war.

Conspicuously absent from the new gas-pump stickers is the cost of the Ontario government’s own fuel tax, which currently stands at 14.7 cents a litre for gasoline. That’s obviously a lot more than the cost of the carbon tax.

So if providing consumers with comprehensive information isn’t the reason for these stickers, what is? Energy Minister Greg Rickford provided the answer in April when he revealed the partisan motives behind the PC’s move.

“We’re going to stick it to the Liberals and remind the people of Ontario how much this job-killing regressive carbon tax costs,” he said then.

There you have it. Using the law he passed and the threat of a $10,000 fine for non-compliance, Ford is bullying gas station operators into being his cheerleaders in his bare-knuckles grudge match with Trudeau. Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which all oppose Ottawa’s carbon tax, have not followed Ontario’s lead.

Ford should understand why they’re right and he’s wrong. Forcing gas station operators to post these stickers whether they agree or disagree with the federal carbon tax is nothing less than compelled political speech. If Ford lacks the good sense to back down, we hope this is challenged in court as an unreasonable violation of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.