Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was jeered by Canadian mayors as he claimed the carbon tax helps more Canadians than it hurts.
Trudeau was speaking at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities annual conference in Calgary last Friday, taking questions from mayors, councillors and other representatives from 2,100 municipalities throughout the country.
He was asked what his government’s plan was to balance the budget after taking on an additional $1 trillion dollars in spending since he took office in 2015.
Trudeau responded by saying that his government was “dropping inflation and we’re being there for Canadians.”
“Not with cuts and austerity,” he added. “And we’re going to keep doing that.”
He then added an addendum defending his embattled carbon tax scheme.“With the carbon price, it actually puts more money in the pockets of eight out of 10 Canadians families. That’s the parliamentary budget officer who says that. It’s absolutely true,” said Trudeau, followed by a short laugh.
Trudeau has been criticized for misrepresenting the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s inquiry into the consumer carbon tax.
For example, the report found that in 2024, the average Alberta family would lose $911, even after factoring in rebates.
The average rebate in every province analyzed also resulted in a loss.
Furthermore, when it comes to the overall economic impacts of the carbon tax, that information is being withheld altogether.
Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux said that the Trudeau government has put a gag on him in regards to discussing what the long term economic impacts of the carbon tax are going to be.
While testifying before the House of Commons finance committee last week, Giroux said that the federal government has prevented him from sharing its economic analysis of the effects.
“The government has economic analysis on the impact of the carbon tax itself and the (output-based pricing system). We’ve seen that, staff in my office, but we’ve been told explicitly not to disclose it and reference it,” said Giroux.
Giroux filed an access to information request with Environment and Climate Change Canada to determine the economic impacts of emissions reductions.
The government published this data in late March or early April, according to Chris Matier, a director in the Parliamentary Budget Office.
Additionally, 70% of Canadians and premiers have voiced their dismay for the federal pricing system, with premiers across the country calling for carbon tax relief in March. However, these calls have fallen on deaf ears, as Trudeau rejected the request from premiers for an emergency meeting to discuss the carbon tax and continues to gaslight Canadians on the subject of rebates.