MY PREDICTION: Poilievre Will Axe the Carbon Tax

Scrapping Canada's most effective climate policy will cost us a lot in the long run

- Kathryn Harrison

In 2019, Canada implemented the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act as part of our pledge to the 2015 Paris Agreement-an ambitious global effort to curb Earth's warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and reach net zero by 2050. The act applies a federal carbon tax on fossil fuels-it started at $20 per tonne and will rise to $170 per tonne by 2030, unless provinces adopt their own equivalent policies. For consumers, it increases the cost of filling up at the pump and heating homes. But the point is not to punish people. The tax is meant to motivate Canadians to save money by conserving energy and using renewable sources instead. In fact, the government returns 90 per cent of the funds collected from the levy back to taxpayers through rebates. (The rest goes to small businesses, schools and farmers.) Industrial emitters, like oil companies and manufacturers, are also taxed.

With this and other federal climate policies in place-including zero-emission vehicle standards and methane regulations-we're on track to drive down emissions year after year, including a 226-million-tonne drop in carbon dioxide by 2030.