Ottawa, banks at odds over rebate wording

Government seeks change to name of payment when deposited into accounts

The federal government is frustrated by difficulties in getting banks to adopt its preferred name for carbon price rebates as the next round of payments starts to land in Canadians’ bank accounts, a senior official told the Star.

The rebates are a key part of the Liberal government’s controversial carbon pricing scheme. They’re meant to offset increased costs of heat, fuel and other goods by returning proceeds of the carbon levy directly to households four times a year, while preserving the incentive to reduce emissions that cause climate change.

Under political pressure from opposition politicians and provincial leaders, who disparage the policy as being too harsh on many Canadians, the Liberals rebranded their rebate payments earlier this year, as first reported by the Star, changing the name from “climate action incentive payments” to the “Canada carbon rebate.”

Since then, the Liberals have been trying to showcase and defend their signature climate policy. Those efforts have included asking banks to adopt the new name, so the rebates are clearly linked to the carbon price when they appear as a direct deposits on Canadians’ bank account statements.

But according to a senior government official, who spoke on condition they aren’t named, some banks — which the official declined to name — “are being less than helpful.”

As the official explained, the government wants the banks to label the payments as “CDACarbonRebate” in English, and “CarboneRemiseCA” in French.

But some banks have character limits and bilingual requirements, the official said, and some have said they won’t be able to change the name on the payments until July “for various purported technical reasons.”

“Most frustrating,” the official said, is that “one of the big banks also says they aren’t willing to make these changes at all.”

The official again declined to say which bank is refusing to make the changes. “By not being helpful with the labels, certain banks are hampering good climate policy,” the official said.

Maggie Cheung, a spokesperson for the Canadian Bankers Association, declined to comment Monday when asked about the official’s comments.

The Star also asked Canada’s five major banks how they are labelling the carbon pricing rebates.

TD Canada Trust and the Bank of Montreal said they are labelling the payments along the lines of what the government told the Star it requested, calling them “CDACARBONREBATE CCR” and “CDACARBONREBATE CCR/ RCC.”

Royal Bank of Canada spokesperson Cheryl Brean said her institution is currently labelling the payments as “Federal Climate Incentive” but is working to update it to “Canadian Carbon Rebate.”

Similarly, Scotiabank is working to update the label for the payments, which are currently described as “Climate Incentive Canada” or “Climate Action Incentive Canada,” said spokesperson Katie Raskina.

In an email late Monday, CIBC spokesperson Stephanie Marcus said the bank is still looking at options for labelling deposits, and didn’t say what its current practice is for the carbon price rebates.

In addition to pressuring the banks and rebranding, there was also a desire to increase government advertising to promote carbon pricing, said another senior government official speaking on a background basis. It’s a move some experts who spoke to the Star said was necessary in the face of aggressive opposition campaigns that Liberals had admitted were making it difficult to explain how the system works and garner support from Canadians.

But, the source said, the Liberal government’s commitment when it was first elected in 2015 to tighten rules around partisan advertising and reduce overall spending on advertising has posed an additional challenge.

This spring, Environment Canada launched an $6.8-million climate literacy ad campaign that included one Super Bowl commercial as well as cinema, digital and print media buys. Notably absent was a push on carbon pricing — or the rebates the government has been keen to promote.

The Canada Revenue Agency spent just over $2 million in advertising the rebate in the first two years after the price on carbon was introduced, but has not spent any money to advertise it in the three years since, which included the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s clear that the lack of recognition by the average Canadian that they are getting these rebates has opened the door for misinformation about the whole pollution pricing system,” the source said.