Nature encourages no looseness, pardons no errors.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Carbon tax ends: When do you get your last rebate?
The Carbon Tax Is Dead — Your Wallet Might Be Happy, But Your Lungs Won’t Be
It’s official: Canada’s consumer carbon tax is over, axed by Prime Minister Mark Carney on his first day in office. Starting this month, there will no longer be a federal carbon charge on gasoline, natural gas, or other carbon-emitting consumer fuels.
And while some Canadians will cheer at the sight of slightly cheaper gas, let's call this what it really is:
a defeat for the environment, a disaster for truth, and a shameful collapse of political courage.
Because the carbon tax wasn’t some abstract policy cooked up in an ivory tower — it was the smartest, boldest, most effective climate action this country had taken in decades.
It worked. It was fair. It was simple.
And it has now been killed, not because it failed, but because it was targeted by lies, gutted by cowardice, and abandoned by the very people who once championed it.
A Victory for Politics — and a Loss for Planet Earth
Good riddance, some will say. Taxing fuel when families are struggling was always a terrible idea. Others will shrug and say the tax was too unpopular to survive.
Some may even call it a tactical masterstroke: Carney beat Pierre Poilievre to the punch and neutralized his biggest talking point.
Excuses, all of them.
This tax wasn’t inevitable roadkill. Its death wasn’t fated. It was allowed to happen. It was surrendered.
And the damage will be massive — not just to our climate commitments, but to public trust, economic fairness, and basic truth.
Look no further than B.C. Premier David Eby, a man who once championed the provincial carbon tax as “the best way to fight climate change.” He was right — and he knew it. British Columbia’s tax, launched in 2008, was a global pioneer. Studies proved it helped cut emissions without tanking the economy. It was so successful that the federal government used it as a model.
But when Eby faced a tough re-election battle, he folded. He blamed the Conservatives for making the tax “toxic.” He blamed the Liberals for raising it “at the wrong time.” He even blamed Donald Trump. Then he axed the tax himself.
This wasn’t leadership — it was panic in slow motion. And it leaves behind a $2 billion hole in B.C.’s budget just when the province needs it most to deal with the fallout of new tariffs.
And more importantly, it kills off a world-class climate policy at a moment when the climate crisis is accelerating, not slowing down.
Mark Carney’s Climate Flip-Flop
Mark Carney’s reversal may be even more cynical. He’s an economist. A former central banker. A global climate envoy.
If anyone knows the value of carbon pricing — using market forces instead of government regulation to reduce pollution — it’s him.
And yet, on Day One of his premiership, he signed away the tax, saying it had become too “divisive” to defend.
He blamed “misinformation and lies” from Pierre Poilievre, saying the political damage was too great.
Then — in a surreal twist — he bragged about giving Canadians an 18-cent break on gas. That’s the very tax his own party introduced, and that he himself supported, until it got inconvenient.
This is what passes for strategy now: co-opt your opponent’s rhetoric, kill your own policy, and spin it as a win.
And sure, it might work — politically.
But at what cost?
To climate policy?
To our trust in leadership?
To truth itself?
The Truth the Axe-the-Tax Crowd Doesn’t Want You to Hear
Everything critics said about the carbon tax — that it caused inflation, that it punished the poor, that it hurt the economy — was false.
Economists said so.
Independent studies confirmed it.
Even oil companies knew it was better than heavy-handed regulation.
The tax didn’t crush households — it rewarded greener ones. The carbon rebate was deliberately designed to pay more back to 8 in 10 Canadians than they spent in tax. In fact, lower-income households benefited most, because their carbon footprints are smaller. They got more back. Now they get nothing.
Andrew Leach, energy economist at the University of Alberta, put it bluntly: “Take away the carbon price, take the rebates, then that’s a net negative for most lower-income households and a net positive for most higher-income households.”
Christopher Ragan, from McGill’s Max Bell School of Public Policy, agreed: “They’re going to notice that the price of gasoline is going down and feel better off … but pretty soon, they’ll realize they’re no longer receiving those quarterly rebates.”
Let’s be brutally clear: this is a reverse Robin Hood move. It’s a gift to polluters and the wealthy, disguised as relief for working Canadians.
Your wallet might be cheering now — but in the long run, your health, your environment, and your children will pay the price.
Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Collapse
You might save $8 at the pump today. But what are we really buying?
-
More greenhouse gas emissions.
-
More wildfires.
-
More choking smog and asthma.
-
More billion-dollar climate disasters.
-
More ER visits. More hospital wait times.
-
And fewer tools left to fight back.
It’s already hard to find a parking spot at the hospital. Wait until the air gets worse.
With the tax gone, governments will need new ways to cut emissions. That means regulation. Penalties. Direct spending.
None of those are cheaper or more efficient than a simple price on carbon. And all of them will affect you, whether you burn fossil fuels or not.
So no — this wasn’t a cost-saving move. It was a cost shifting move. Out of sight, out of mind. Until the floods come. Until the crops fail. Until you can’t breathe.
A Defeat for Climate Action — and for Truth
This isn’t just a climate policy failure — it’s a failure of integrity.
The carbon tax wasn’t defeated by facts. It was defeated by slogans. “Axe the tax” became a mantra, a meme, a movement. It didn’t need to be right — it just needed to be loud.
And instead of standing up for the truth, our leaders gave up. They didn’t just retreat. They flipped sides. They started parroting the same nonsense they once debunked.
They’ve shown Canadians that facts don’t matter. That disinformation wins. That bold policy can be reversed with just enough rage clicks and bad faith arguments.
And that’s not just depressing. It’s dangerous.
Final Thought: Who Really Wins?
So go ahead — enjoy that 18-cent discount. Fill up your tank. Feel like you scored a win.
But remember: when we kill good policy because lies were louder than truth, no one wins.
Not the environment. Not your kids. Not your health. And not your future.
You might feel better off now. But if you think this was a victory, just wait until you see the price tag.
Let’s not pretend this was a win. Because when the smoke clears — from the spin, the fires, and the broken promises — the truth will still be choking on carbon.
Sincerely,
Adaptation-Guide
ADAPT OR DIE!
WE ARE READY! ARE YOU?
CREDITS: CBC, THE GLOBE & MAIL
No comments:
Post a Comment