Editorial: The hurt of the carbon tax needs to end

WEYBURN - Western Canadians continue to be hurt and marginalized by the federal Liberals, as the carbon tax was once again hiked on April 1, to the detriment of everyone and the benefit of no one.

With massive Liberal over-spending continuing with their latest budget, and no end in sight to the deficits and the ballooning national debt, it isn’t any great surprise they are going to hang on to a regressive and punitive tax and hide behind the false pretense of helping the environment.

The hammer of the carbon tax has been pounding Canadians, most especially in Western Canada, for a number of years now, and lack of any compassion or conscience on the part of the Liberals is evident each and every time they enact the tax increase.

Their complete lack of heart and conscience was most on display during COVID, when at the height of lockdowns and people were struggling because many were not able to work, the Liberals outright lied and said they would not increase taxes, yet they brazenly increased the carbon tax without apology.

Today, with inflation hurting every Canadian, even those in Eastern Canada under Liberal favour, the tax is again increased as any regressive tax would be, and the complaints from the West were backed up with facts from the Parliamentary budget officer.

The officer noted that Canadians are being hurt and paying more even after the rebates, which the Liberals claimed made Canadians better off. Did this make any difference to any Liberal in Ottawa? No, it did not, nor will it, because the carbon tax is a cash cow to help prop up their massive spending and the ballooning debt.

Not only are ordinary Canadians hurting under the weight of inflation, with the punishing weight of the carbon tax added on top, but farmers are being hurt because the tax unfairly adds onto the costs of transporting grain, or drying it, or shipping cattle to feedlots or to market.

APAS has noted that the carbon taxes will add at least $40 million to the cost of transporting their agricultural commodities to market, far beyond any rebates being offered, and it comes out of the pockets of rural Saskatchewan. To hurt the backbone of the agricultural sector like this is unconscionable.

To make any claim that somehow this is to help the environment is a bald-faced lie. Not one cent is helping the environment in any way, and even if it were, the cost to Canadians of every walk of life is not justified.

The voices of Canadians may not mean anything to the Liberals, especially those in the West, but they must not stop vocalizing their concerns and hurts and convey the message that this tax has to be repealed, or made more fair and responsive to people’s needs.