Our carbon price is helping with inflation and the climate but is under attack. Show your support!

The need for climate action is now clearer than ever before. Every year, we are experiencing the impacts of extreme weather more and more. Just last year, the country incurred $3.1 billion in insured losses due to severe weather, the fourth-worst year.[i] These extreme weather events include wildfires in British Columbia, the spring ice storms in Ontario and Quebec and the summer storms in the Prairies. But 2023 was not an isolated year. Four of the worst losses have occurred in the past 10 years!

Remember the forest fires last year? It was the largest in Canadian history. About 18.5 million hectares of Canadian forest burned.[ii] An area larger than Greece vanished in a matter of months![iii] Nine people, including eight brave firefighters died.[iv] Over 150 thousand people were evacuated in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and the NWT. The whole city of Yellowknife was evacuated!

Almost all climate scientists – 97% – agree that humans are the cause of climate change.[v] The leading cause of climate change is the combustion of fossil fuels.[vi] So, we need to curb our emissions, if we are to prevent some of the worst impacts of climate change. Without collective climate action, a two-degree increase in global temperatures is all but guaranteed, the financial cost of which would be $2.8 trillion by 2100[vii] and loss of human lives and entire animal species.[viii] The damages and loss of life will be from floods, storm damage, increased activity of pests and invasive species, droughts, floods, more severe and longer forest fires, etc.[ix]

A vast majority of Canadians agree that they want the government to take urgent action but understandably, a minority are willing to pay more taxes particularly in the context of high inflation.[x] What if we can fight climate change without significantly affecting most people’s wallets?

That is what the federal carbon price does in provinces and territories without their own carbon pricing! In 10 provinces and territories, the carbon tax is revenue neutral which means the 90% of the revenue is rebated to households. Starting April 15, 2024, a family of four is expected to get $280 in Ontario and $450 in Alberta every three months. And single adults get $298 in Newfoundland and $376 in Saskatchewan. In addition, rural families get a 10% top up.[xi] Most families get more in rebates than they pay in carbon tax. For example, in Ontario, “most households received $300 more in rebates than they paid in carbon taxes.”[xii] Those who benefit the most are those with low or medium incomes. Further, hundreds of economists agree that carbon pricing is more cost-efficient than regulations and subsidies.[xiii]

But lately, carbon tax has been blamed for inflation. But, studies have found that, at most, carbon pricing has resulted in 0.6% increase in consumer prices. They categorically state that “carbon pricing is not to blame for affordability challenges.”[xiv] The inflation that we all face is mostly the result of other global factors like the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the lingering effects of the pandemic, etc. [xv] The Canadian carbon tax is designed to not raise the cost of living for most Canadians.

And, more importantly, the carbon pricing is working. Without any climate action, Canada’s carbon emissions would have risen to 767 megatonnes of greenhouse gases in 2026. But, because of carbon pricing, our emissions are expected to be 606 megatonnes.[xvi]