Prime Minister Mark Carney’s claim to “cancel” the consumer portion of the carbon tax is misleading as a federal carbon pricing scheme law remains on the books.
Carney’s announcement on Friday was based on an order in council to lower the cost of the consumer portion of the tax to zero. In reality, the federal carbon tax, legally known as the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act remains in effect across Canada and can only be axed by a majority vote in Parliament.
Since this isn’t a repeal of the law currently in place there is nothing that could stop the tax from being imposed again at will, or even further increased.
Carney announced an end to the consumer carbon price during a signing ceremony at his inaugural cabinet meeting Friday, which was attended by members of the press.
It was an unusual display for Canadian politics and more akin to U.S. President Donald Trump’s regular public signings of executive orders from the Oval Office. Canadian prime ministers do not wield the same unilateral executive powers as U.S. presidents.
“It’s my honour, on behalf of my colleagues, to sign this,” said Carney, while being lauded by members of his new cabinet.
Carney posted the order in council to X on Saturday which said it set all “applicable fuel charge rates for all types of fuel and combustible waste to zero after March 31, 2025.”
Conservatives responded by cautioning Canadians that this does not amount to repealing its legislation as Parliament would have to first reconvene before it could be voted on.
The Conservatives claim that this was done by design to allow the Liberals to later reignite the contentious carbon tax once it becomes more politically convenient to do so.
This order also provides the Carney government with the ability to further raise it, with the Liberals’ latest increase previously being scheduled for April 1 before the document was signed.
Conservative Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman called the order in council a “phoney facade” designed for the Liberals to “cling to power” in a social media post on Monday.
Lantsman’s post included a video made by former minister of environment Steven Guilbeault chastising the NDP Party for not supporting the carbon tax last fall.
Guilbeault, who Carney recently appointed to be Minister of Heritage, confirmed the Conservatives’ criticisms on Monday that the tax had not been ended while speaking to reporters.
He was asked how Carney was able to make the decision solely by himself.
“Basically, following a decision by cabinet, the consumer price on pollution will be brought down to zero. So it’s a regulatory measure to bring the price to zero.”
One reporter responded to Guilbeault’s answer by asking him to confirm that Carney’s decision was “not a removal” of the tax.
“It’s bringing it to zero,” said Guildeault.
When asked about Carney’s order in council, Conservative MP Micheal Barrett said it’s important for people to know that he “isn’t able to unilaterally repeal repeal legislation.”
“Mark Carney is not repealing the carbon tax,” Barrett told reporters Monday. “He’s not able to do that because it’s required that Parliament passes that law. Now, if there was a commitment from the Carney-Trudeau Liberals to do this, they would have done it in Parliament.”
Barrett pointed out that every member of Carney’s new cabinet had voted dozens of times to uphold and increase the carbon tax since 2019, despite repeatedly promising Canadians they wouldn’t.
“Now here we are, on the eve of an election when Mark Carney needs Canadians’ votes. And he’s saying that he has zeroed the price that they’ve put on the carbon tax,” he said.