Crombie distances party from federal carbon levy

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie is distancing her provincial party from the federal Grits’ carbon levy that is set to rise April 1.

Crombie, who has pledged to not impose a provincial carbon price if she defeats Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives in 2026, said consumers are already at their wit’s end.

“We will make polluters pay but we won’t add an additional tax burden to Ontarians because we know they can’t handle more taxes at this time,” she told reporters Tuesday at Queen’s Park.

Crombie noted it was Ford who exposed Ontario residents to the federal levy in 2018.

“The carbon tax exists in Ontario today, because Doug Ford eliminated cap and trade,” she said of the premier’s decision to withdraw the province from the Western Climate Initiative.

That alliance with Quebec and Ontario generated billions for the Queen’s Park treasury to fund greenhouse gas reduction measures, such as electric vehicle infrastructure, public transit and conservation programs.

But when Ford scrapped it, Ontarians were no longer exempt from paying the federal tax. His bid to fight it was lost at the Supreme Court of Canada in 2021.

Energy Minister Todd Smith said it is “contemptible” and “reprehensible” that the price of carbon will soon jump to $80 a tonne from $65 on April 1 when so many Canadians are feeling the pinch.

Cash rebates from Ottawa to consumers to offset the hike will also increase that day.

“You know what’s even more reprehensible is the fact that we couldn’t get an answer again out of the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, this morning when she was having a press conference about whether or not she supports the federal carbon tax that’s about to increase in 13 days,” said Smith.

Asked about that by reporters, Crombie replied: “Look, I’m not here to tell them how to do their job. I’m here to create a plan that’s right for Ontarians and quite frankly … Doug Ford is trying to distract from the fact that he doesn’t have a plan.”

Even though inflation has levelled off to 2.8 per cent, the looming hike in the federal carbon price has had an impact on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s popularity in publicopinion polls.

Mindful of that, Ford’s Tories have spent millions of dollars on an attack ad blitz trying to link Crombie, a one-time Liberal MP, to Trudeau’s policy.