Ford, Kenney rail against carbon tax
Ontario Premier Doug Ford and United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney greet supporters Friday in Calgary.
CALGARY— A raucous crowd of more than 1,500 crammed into a Calgary convention centre Friday night to hear Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Jason Kenney, leader of Alberta’s Opposition United Conservative Party, rail against the federal carbon tax.
“It’s really, my friends the worst tax ever, a tax we can’t afford, a job-killing tax that hikes up the price of services and goods and drives up the price of heating your homes,” Ford told the rally.
The crowd frequently rose to its feet waving signs that said “Renew The Alberta Advantage” and “Scrap The Carbon Tax.” Many jeered when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s name was mentioned. So many people showed up that some had to listen from the hallway so as not to run afoul of fire codes.
Ford made no secret of who he will root for in Alberta’s provincial election next spring.
“Let’s elect a new United Conservative government in Alberta,” he said. “A new day has dawned in Ontario and a new day will dawn in Alberta.”
Kenney has said the repeal of Alberta’s $30-a-tonne carbon tax will top his agenda if his party wins the election.
“There is no compassion in telling seniors on modest fixed incomes that they can’t have an active life just so you can feel virtuous by imposing this car- bon tax on Albertans,” he said.
“It isn’t progressive and it’s not compassionate.”
Kenney said the “multibilliondollar job killing carbon tax” was not in the NDP’s 2015 election platform.
“It is not just the biggest tax hike in Alberta history. It is the biggest lie in Alberta history,” he said.
“Why are we engaged in this act of economic masochism when it will not make one whit of difference for the environment?”
Alberta’s NDP government introduced the provincial levy before the federal government required it. With the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion in limbo, Premier Rachel Notley is now refusing to raise it in line with federal requirements.