The Liberals released carbon tax data, previously kept secret, just moments before a motion compelling them to do so was to be debated in the House of Commons.
This disclosure follows intense pressure from the opposition Conservatives, who accused the government of withholding critical information about the tax and its effect on the Canadian economy. The Conservatives were set to introduce a motion Thursday morning, demanding that the House release a copy of the government’s economic analysis on the carbon tax no later than June 17.
Environment and Climate Change Canada, however, released the data just before the motion was to be debated.
“Just moments ago, Canadians discovered that Trudeau has been hiding the fact that the carbon tax will cost Canadians $30.5 billion by 2030. This works out to $1,824 per family in extra annual costs,” said the Conservative Party in a news release.
The Conservatives claim that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had been hiding this figure for years, deciding only to release it when Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux testified that the Liberals had him under a gag order.
“Now as a result of pressure from Common Sense Conservatives, the Liberal Government was finally forced to reveal the true damage their tax is causing the Canadian economy,” said the Conservatives.
The Deputy Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada, Jean-François Tremblay, wrote a letter to Giroux on May 14, including the information and data released on Thursday.
“The data the Department is providing contains unpublished information. As such, I request you to ensure that this information is used for your office’s internal purposes only and is not published or further distributed,” reads the letter.
Pierre Poilievre’s party criticized the Liberals for revealing only a small portion of the information.
The complexity of the data led to varying interpretations of the numbers by the Conservatives and others.
While the Conservative Party’s release stated that the carbon tax would cost Canadians over $30 billion by 2030, Poilievre testified in the House of Commons that it would cost Canadians $20 billion annually, equating to $1,200 per family a year compared to the party’s estimate of over $1,800 annually.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation referenced that the data showed that Canada’s GDP would be $25 billion lower in 2030 due to carbon pricing.
“Once again, we see the government’s own data showing what hard-working Canadians already know: the carbon tax costs Canada big time,” said federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Franco Terrazzano. “The carbon tax makes the necessities of life more expensive and will cost our economy billions of dollars.”
Speaking in the House again later, Poilievre updated his numbers to $30 billion, costing families $2,000 per year.
The Liberals have been steadfast in their claims that eight out of ten families are better off financially from the carbon tax after receiving their carbon rebates. Poilievre said this did not factor in the $30 billion of economic costs.
The Conservative Party later called for Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault to be fired on Thursday.
“Steven Guilbeault lied to Canadians. He must resign, and if he won’t, then Justin Trudeau must fire him and start telling the Canadians the truth,” reads the release.
The Environment Minister was questioned by reporters about why he withheld the data from Canadians.
Guilbeault said that some of the data had never been published before, so he delayed releasing them to ensure that he did not violate privacy law.
“And we made those verification. And, as soon as we were able, we tabled those information in the House of Commons,” he said.