by Jason Hopkins
Greenpeace is suing to stop the placement of stickers on gas stations that notify drivers of higher fuel prices due to the implementation of a carbon tax.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford — who has embarked on a pro-energy agenda in his province since entering office — will execute a number of measures to fight back against Canada’s nationwide carbon tax. Besides challenging the carbon tax initiative in court, the conservative politician is looking to include lie item breakdowns on gas receipts and heating bills, informing customers of how much the carbon fee is costing them.
The Ontario government is also looking to include stickers at gas pumps across the province, informing customers of the fee.
“Today, I want to confirm that in Ontario the carbon tax’s days are numbered,” Ford told the media back in June. “In fact, upon the swearing in of my new cabinet, at the top of our agenda the very first item will be to pass an order to cancel the Liberal cap-and-trade carbon tax.”
However, Ford’s sticker program is already running into opposition.
Greenpeace — an international environmentalistorganization — announced it’s intention to mount a challenge. The group is arguing that the stickers are deceptive because they do not include the price of inaction on climate change.
“Doug Ford can’t pretend climate change doesn’t exist or that it isn’t already imposing heavy costs on our health and communities,” said Keith Stewart, an energy strategist with Greenpeace Canada, according to The Globe and Mail.
“These stickers are a cheap attempt to mislead Ontarians with half-truths that cannot be allowed to go unchallenged. We are already dealing with the financial fallout from more extreme storms, flooding and heat waves and these will only get worse the longer politicians like Doug Ford deny the severity of the climate crisis and delay action to solve it,” Stewart continued.
Canadian Prime Minister announced in October that he would be implementing a carbon tax in six provinces that, according to his administration, haven’t done enough to fight climate change. The tax, which will go into effect in 2019, will be set at approximately $15 per ton of carbon dioxide emitted and incrementally increase to over $38 per ton by 2022.
Trudeau’s government claims about 90 percent of the carbon tax revenue will be returned to Canadians in the form of rebates, offsetting costs of the fee. However, critics argue the plan is ill-designed, as it does coincide with regulation rollbacks.
“Properly designed and implemented carbon pricing can work to both improve the economy and better regulate GHG emissions,” wrote Ashley Stedman and Elmira Aliakbari, two policy experts at the Fraser Institute. “Unfortunately, the plan announced on Tuesday by the federal government could very well make matters worse.”
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Jason Hopkins is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Jason on Twitter.
