In just a few days, the federal carbon tax will climb by another 10 dollars a tonne to 40 dollars.
Just over a year from now, it will again climb by 10 dollars a tonne to 50 dollars. From that point on, the tax will be hiked 15 dollars every year, until it reaches 170 dollars a tonne by 2030. That's going to impact the bottom line of every single Canadian, whether it's purchasing gas for a vehicle, fuel to heat your home, or buying groceries. One estimate says within a decade the price of gasoline alone, could climb by nearly 30 cents a litre, just to pay for the carbon tax. And all of this happening as the nation tries to crawl out from the worst economic crisis in our lifetime.
Canada's agriculture sector is especially frustrated, given the amount of propane and natural gas many producers used in recent years to dry their crops, so that they could ship them to market. According to figures compiled by groups like APAS, some farmers were already paying thousands of dollars a month to dry their crops and those dryers ran steady, for months. Yet, throughout the debate, Bibeau has claimed the added expense to farmers is not significant
It's that comment that angers people like farmer and longtime agriculture advocate, Cherilyn Jolly Nagel. "This is our Agriculture Minister, this is somebody who is a leader in the industry. Somebody who we should be able to go to who has some experience, some knowledge, some perspective, some appreciation for the industry. To hear her say these words is disgusting. It makes me infuriated. All I can say is we must do a better job explaining."
"No matter which way we try to crunch these numbers, this 170 dollar a tonne tax is not possible," shares Jolly Nagel. "We're not talking about thousands of dollars for family farms, we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars, with no recognition of what we are doing right now is good. We are sequestered in carbon. We are doing the best job we possibly can. I cannot get over the hypocracy of this government."
The new carbon tax increase takes affect on January 1, 2021.
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