As fuel prices continue to climb, it appears Ottawa has no plans to pause the carbon tax temporarily.
Premier Blaine Higgs made the suggestion last week, describing it as the most “straightforward” step.
“That would amount to about 11 cents a litre,” Higgs said on March 9. “That would make a dent.”
Currently, the federal carbon tax adds 8.84 cents per litre to the price of regular self-serve. That is expected to increase to 11.05 cents per litre come April 1.
But Wayne Long, the Liberal MP for Saint John-Rothesay, called the premier’s proposal “disingenuous.”
“Every cent that is derived from the price of pollution or carbon tax is returned to the province and the premier certainly knows that,” Long told our newsroom on Monday.
Long said when the federal backstop was in place, Ottawa rebated the carbon tax directly to consumers.
That money now goes straight to the province, which decides what to do with it, he said.
“The premier has ever lever in his toolbox to rebate that back,” said Long.
Higgs has said he has asked staff to look at the implications of lowering the provincial gasoline tax and HST added to fuel prices.
He said they have already told him that higher fuel prices likely will not mean more tax revenue for the province as consumption will probably drop.
Any changes to the provincial gasoline tax and HST added to fuel prices would “ideally” be implemented by April 1, said Higgs.
Long, meanwhile, said the goal of the carbon tax is to encourage people to look for other alternatives — and he thinks it is working.
“Our move to reduce carbon, our move to drive carbon down … that’s only going to be achieved by people looking for other alternatives. Using public transit, walking, using bikes,” he said.
“That is what we want to try to incentivize. We want people to say ‘my gosh, it costs me so much to fill up my tank, I need to look at other methods.’”
