OTTAWA - Today, Greens will vote against the cynical Pierre Poilievre and his no climate plan party's motion.
Carbon pricing is not only one of the most recent and economically efficient ways to address the climate crisis, but it also ensures that lower-income households receive more in a federal rebate than they pay.
Independent reports from the Parliamentary Budget Officer show that only households with the highest 20% of income pay out more than they receive - because they consume the most fossil fuels. As such, Canadians are impacted disproportionately more from inflation fuelled by corporate-greed than carbon pricing. Yet, both Liberals and Conservatives aren’t willing to address it.
"There’s no denying that the Liberals have severely damaged their climate credibility - to the extent they had any after buying the Trans Mountain pipeline, increasing fossil fuel subsidies and expanding drilling for offshore oil,” said Elizabeth May, Green Party Leader. “But by pandering to climate tax detractors instead of aiding those who needed financial help, the NDP is falling into a huge trap while throwing the climate out the window.”
People who are shocked the NDP will side with the Conservatives to undermine carbon pricing have short memories. The first political party to try to win an election by attacking carbon pricing with the slogan "Axe the Tax" was the BC NDP in 2008. They lost. BC voters preferred principled policy and real affordability measures.
“When compared to decades of Conservative-Liberal policies favoring monopolies and putting public money into private pockets, carbon pricing is but a minuscule part of Canada’s ongoing affordability challenges,” said Jonathan Pedneault, Green Party Deputy Leader. “The key to solving the affordability crisis isn’t to scapegoat the carbon tax and divert anger away from the billionaires who profit from the suffering of Canadians. It is rather to aggressively redistribute wealth, legislate to close the income gap and repatriate key Canadian assets under democratic control, for the benefit of all."
To fund income supports, we need to tax the excess profits of the fossil fuel industry, cancel all fossil fuel subsidies including the TransMountain (TMX) pipeline. MP Mike Morrice’s Motion 92, which calls on the federal government to impose a windfall tax on the profits of fossil fuel companies, would provide the government with an additional $4.2 billion to address affordability. Canceling TMX would free an extra few billions.
“Let’s recognize that 47 cents of every dollar of inflation is attributable to corporate profits,” said Mike Morrice, MP for Kitchener Centre. “Those profits and a stop to corporate subsidies would free billions that can be invested in real affordability measures and climate solutions for Canadians.”
Principled and coherent climate plans support fairness and equity. The Liberals’ recent pretzel policies suggesting the goals of equity and climate sanity are oppositional are misguided. The two are inextricably linked.
"Canadians now see really clearly the one party with a consistent commitment to defending Canadians from the climate and affordability crisis caused by the billionaire class and their Liberal-Conservative friends,” said Elizabeth May. “That party is the Green Party of Canada“
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