Pierre Poilievre warns Canadians can't stomach looming gas tax return
· Toronto Sun
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OTTAWA — It’s time to hit the brakes on gas taxes.
That was the message Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre had for the government on Thursday from St. John’s.
“On behalf of all Conservatives, I’m officially calling on (Prime Minister) Mark Carney to cancel his planned gas tax hike in September,” he told reporters in Newfoundland.
“Canadians cannot afford yet another 10 cents a litre at the pump — cancel the hike, Mr. Carney.”
Back in mid-April, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a temporary reprieve in the fuel excise tax as a measure to improve affordability — a cut that brought gas prices down by a dime, and four cents per litre of diesel.
However, with that tax cut set to expire on Labour Day, Conservatives are calling on the government to scrap all taxes on fuel.
“Get rid of all the gas taxes for all of the year, to save Canadians 25 cents a litre, $20 a fill-up, and $500 by Christmas,” Poilievre said.
Polling shows support for extending tax cut
That’s a sentiment shared by Canadians, as a recent Leger poll commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation showed 63% of Canadians are against resuming the fuel excise tax on Sept. 8.
Dan McTeague, Canadians for Affordable Energy president, said Canadians need lower gas prices, but questioned why both the federal and provincial governments didn’t remove HST for gas sales.
“That’s the real money-maker,” he told the Toronto Sun .
“For the federal government, at 5%, they’re still making a few cents on the higher price,” he said.
“The province makes 8% on $1.80 (per litre,) which is what it was last week, so given those numbers, they’re still picking up a cool 14, 15 cents per litre … so if we want to stem the higher price, that’s where we’d go.”
But lowering prices, he said, takes a level of political will he isn’t sure the provincial and federal governments are capable of.
“Given that these are green ideologues, higher prices are always a good thing because, after all at the end of the day, it ushers in more Chinese-made EVs,” he said.
“To be blunt about it, it serves their purpose.”