Federal carbon tax 'has to go,' says Ontario premier
CBC
Ontario Premier Doug Ford slammed the federal carbon tax hike that kicked in Monday, calling on the federal government to scrap it.
"We stand against the carbon tax... we know Ontario businesses can't afford this costly burden," Ford said Tuesday at a news conference in East Gwillimbury, Ont., north of Toronto.
Ford, who has long opposed the increase, said the province has a long list of agricultural organizations that are feeling the impact and support the Conservative's campaign to axe the tax.
"This carbon tax has to go or in a year and a half, the prime minister is going. It's as simple as that, he will be going, I'll guarantee you," Ford said.
"[Trudeau] will not be there. The ideology they have is just beyond me — I just do not understand it at all."
The federal government's increase of $15 per tonne of carbon went into effect Monday. The carbon tax increase will cost drivers an extra 3.3 cents per litre at the pump.
Since the Canadian government's fuel levy was introduced in 2019, the carbon tax has added 17.6 cents to the cost of a litre of gasoline.
The increase will also mean larger quarterly rebate cheques, which families are next set to receive on April 15 to help offset the higher cost of fuel, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said. In Ontario, a single-person household will receive $140 quarterly and a family of four will get $280 every three months.
Ford said the carbon tax hike is "punishing, crippling companies out there."
Last week, Ford touted some of the transit investments and infrastructure changes his province has made at a news conference in Ottawa. He previously said there are other ways to reduce emissions rather than "digging into people's pockets.
"We are going to fight it tooth and nail," he said at an East Gwillimbury farm Tuesday. "We have so many people here I could fill this field, not with hundreds of thousands but millions of people who are against this carbon tax."
Drew Spoelstra, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, said the levy is taking money away from investing in clean farming technology.
Spoelstra said last fall, he dried 2,500 tonnes of grain on his farm outside Hamilton, which cost $4,500 in carbon tax.
"We support a clean environment but farmers just don't have any alternatives. We have to use fuel and energy to grow the food that we all eat," he said at the news conference Tuesday.
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