Consider people with disabilities in pollution pricing

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that “experts rated (his) climate plan to be an A,” but we wonder if one of the oversights that’s holding it back from being an A+ is its failure to consider Canadians with disabilities. When the Liberals developed a federal price on pollution, they made no indication whether it might cause Canadians with disabilities to lose money.

The principle behind the price on pollution is simple: the consequences of climate change are costly, so companies should have to pay for every tonne of carbon dioxide they emit. As a result, companies need to go green to save money.

The government knows that the price on pollution makes costs of living such as driving, heating a home and flying more expensive. So, they take the money collected from companies and give it to Canadians through “climate action incentive” payments. On average, 80 per cent of Canadians earn more money from these payments than they spend on the increased cost of living, and only the richest 20 per cent come out slightly behind.

Economists and scientists agree that pricing pollution is the best first step to fight climate change, while also putting more money in most people’s pockets. But, other than the richest 20 per cent, which Canadians are the most likely to lose money due to this policy?

Canadians living in rural areas, for starters. They have fewer ecofriendly options such as clean transportation. The federal government fixed this problem by increasing the value of the climate action incentive payment for rural Canadians by 10 per cent.

However, there is another community that the government has not considered: Canadians living with disabilities. Many of the ecofriendly changes that allow Canadians to come out ahead from the price on pollution are difficult or impossible for persons with disabilities to make.

They may not be able to cycle, walk or use public transit instead of driving, and they may require carbon-intensive products such as plastic straws. Since they are more likely to experience poverty, they are less likely to afford eco-friendly solutions, such as retrofitting their homes and purchasing electric vehicles (which are rarely wheelchair accessible).

This situation illustrates why the federal government needs to do a better job of including Canadians with disabilities in the process of making decisions that affect them. In fact, Trudeau recognized this necessity when he created the Accessible Canada Act in 2019, which states that people with disabilities must be involved in the development and design of policies.

We call upon the government to enlist the help of Canadians with disabilities to determine whether these citizens need a top-up on their climate action incentive payments to ensure that they recoup the same net gain from the price on pollution as other Canadians in their income bracket.

Anisha Hundal and Rachel Stubits are students at the University of Toronto and volunteers for Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada. Rachel is passionate about drawing from her experiences as a person with a disability.