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Dan-in-Ottawa

Carbon tax increases tied to higher home heating costs

Carbon tax increasing

When I first was elected as a Member of Parliament, I soon discovered it was not uncommon for citizens to share personal documents with me on issues they were finding to be challenging to deal with when it comes to the federal government.

While that fact has not changed, what has surprised me is the extent to how much the list of challenges has grown.

Some examples:

• Many citizens can longer receive a passport within a reasonable period of time.

• Immigration backlogs have never been worse and some citizens, to their shock and dismay, discover supporting documents to their application have literally disappeared from their file.

• Air travelers who experience immense frustration from travel cancellations have discovered the air passenger bill of rights is not helping them.

• Many (residents) in rural areas still cannot receive broadband internet despite promises to the contrary over the past five years.
Also, increasingly, I receive winter gas bills from (residents) who can no longer afford their home heating.

On that note, one recent home heating bill caught my attention. The person who sent the bill to me pointed out they had to go on the equal payment plan in order to afford the cold winter months.

For this individual that means 12 equal payments of $170 a month for a total of $2,040 for the year.

They also pointed out that close to a quarter of that bill—$473 (23%)—was solely paying for the carbon tax.

As this individual is not eligible for the B.C. climate action rebate, (In B.C. individuals earning $79,376 or more are not eligible for this credit) the question was asked how much higher the carbon tax would be next year?

This is a good question as on one hand that carbon tax in B.C. is provincial but on the other hand, when B.C. signed onto the federal Pan-Canadian Climate Strategy, it agreed to the guidelines that called for the carbon tax in B.C. to rise to $50 per tonne as of April 1, 2022.

So what happens next?

Prime Minister Trudeau wants to triple the carbon tax here Canada at the following rate: (The minimum carbon pollution price in Canadian dollars per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) for 2023 will be $65.)

In the following years:

2024 $80

2025 $95

2026 $110

2027 $125

2028 $140

2029 $155

2030 $170

As the Canadian Climate Strategy was only in effect until the end of 2022, it is unknown if the B.C. government will continue to follow the federal government in this direction.

If it does, as you can see, for 2023, this would be a 30% increase over the current carbon tax rate.

It is easy to understand why the Bank of Canada has confirmed the carbon tax does help to increase inflation here in Canada.

My question this week:

Do you support B.C. continuing to follow the federal government in tripling the carbon tax by 2030 to $170/tonne?

I can be reached at [email protected] or call toll free 1-800-665-8711.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.



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About the Author

Dan Albas is the Member of Parliament for the riding of Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola and the co-chair of the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations.

Before entering public life, Dan was the owner of Kick City Martial Arts, responsible for training hundreds of men, women and youth to bring out their best.

Dan  is consistently recognized as one of Canada’s top 10 most active Members of Parliament on Twitter (@danalbas) and also continues to write a weekly column published in many local newspapers and on this website.

Dan welcomes comments, questions and concerns from citizens and is often available to speak to groups and organizations on matters of federal concern. 

He can be reached at [email protected] or call toll free at 1-800-665-8711.



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The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.

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