Crombie has yet to call on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to scrap his federal carbon tax. Pictured: Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie. Photo Credit: Bonnie Crombie/X.
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie wants to make energy bills more affordable in Ontario, but only by a little bit.
That’s because Crombie is pledging to remove the provincial portion of the HST from home heating and hydro bills if elected premier in the next provincial election.
But Crombie has yet to call on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to scrap his federal carbon tax.
The typical Ontario family spends more than $2,100 a year on home energy costs. That means that Crombie’s pledge will save the typical Ontario family more than $150 a year.
With 50 per cent of Ontarians saying they’re $200 away from not being able to pay their bills, hardworking taxpayers need all the help they can get.
But Trudeau’s carbon tax is costing the typical Ontario household $381 on their home heating bills this winter. That’s more than double the savings Crombie’s proposed home energy tax cut would offer.
Crombie has said publicly that she wouldn’t impose a provincial carbon tax on Ontarians if the federal backstop is removed, but she continuously refuses to call on Trudeau to scrap his carbon tax.
Opposing the federal carbon tax is all the more important because Trudeau plans to keep increasing the carbon tax every year between now and 2030.
The carbon tax is set to more than double over the next six years. The carbon tax will go from adding $381 to home heating costs in the winter of 2025 to $996 in the winter of 2030.
The feds love to argue that folks get more back from carbon tax rebate cheques than they lose out on from higher prices, so higher energy bills shouldn’t matter.
But data from the Parliamentary Budget Officer shows the average Ontario household is losing $399 this year, even after the rebates. And that number is set to climb to $903 by 2030.
So the feds’ argument is hogwash.
The reality is the cost of the carbon tax on home heating dwarfs the impact of eliminating the sales tax on home energy costs. And the difference between the cost of the two will be even more dramatic by 2030.
Make no mistake: removing the provincial portion of the HST from home energy bills is a good policy. Ontarians shouldn’t be taxed just for trying to stay warm in the winter or cool in the summer. But it’s precisely that same logic that is the reason why the carbon tax must also go.
Crombie’s unwillingness to call on the feds to scrap the carbon tax stands in stark contrast with Premier Doug Ford.
Ford has been vocal about calling on the Trudeau government to scrap its carbon tax since the day he took over Queen’s Park.
Whether it’s calling the carbon tax “the worst tax ever put on a bunch of people,” or telling the prime minister to “wake up” and “smell the coffee,” Ford has never been afraid to stand up for Ontario taxpayers and against Trudeau’s carbon tax.
It’s time for Crombie to get off the sidelines and do the same.
The voices of provincial Liberal leaders can be quite powerful.
Liberal Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey has long been a carbon tax critic and his public statements attacking the carbon tax played a key role in convincing Trudeau to remove the carbon tax from furnace oil for a period of three years.
More than half of the federal Liberal caucus comes from Ontario.
Crombie’s voice could make a big difference, if she chose to use it. If Furey was able to use his bully pulpit to get Trudeau to make some changes with just six federal Liberal MPs coming from Newfoundland and Labrador, imagine what Crombie’s voice could do with Ontario having 77 Liberal MPs.
It’s time for Crombie to speak out. If she really does want to make Ontarians’ lives more affordable, which Crombie says is the driving force behind her commitment to remove the provincial portion of the HST from home energy bills, then she needs to come out against the federal carbon tax.
Crombie has a bully pulpit. It’s time for her to use it.
Jay Goldberg is the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. He previously served as a policy fellow at the Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Jay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
