Minister of Enviroanment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Oct. 30, 2023. (Screenshot from ParlVu)
By Noé Chartier
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told MPs the carbon tax reduced emissions by nearly 3 percent in a given year, while department officials said the figure was closer to 1 percent.
During testimony at the House of Commons environment committee on May 21, Mr. Guilbeault said the price on carbon was responsible for reducing emissions by 5 megatons in 2018, 14 megatons in 2019, 17 megatons in 2020, 18 megatons in 2021, 19 megatons in 2022, and 24 megatons in 2023.
According to his department, Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions was 708 megatons in 2022, which suggests the carbon tax would have reduced emissions by 2.68 percent.
Conservative MP Dan Mazier said he was puzzled by the figures provided, given Mr. Guilbeault had formally told him back in January that Ottawa doesn’t measure the impact of federal carbon pricing.
Mr. Mazier asked how the figures had been obtained and whether the numbers “are combined with a bunch of other stuff.”
“The numbers that I gave you are specifically related to the carbon pricing,” said Mr. Guilbeault, noting the numbers were sourced from his department’s inventory report.
John Moffet, assistant deputy minister at Environment Canada, sought to clarify the matter. He said that 3 percent is the reduction in total emissions, while carbon pricing contributed to a third of that total.
“One third of those reductions are attributable to carbon pricing, so it’s not that carbon pricing has only achieved 3 percent of reductions. Carbon pricing has contributed to a third of total reductions,” he said.
Tory MP Michael Kram asked Mr. Moffet whether this means the carbon tax is estimated to contribute to only 1 percent of total emissions reduction. “To date,” answered Mr. Moffet.
Mr. Guilbeault earlier told the committee that carbon pricing “will make it possible to achieve one-third of Canada’s emission reduction by 2030.”
The Epoch Times reached out to Environment Canada for clarification but didn’t hear back.
“If our total emissions have only been reduced by 1 percent as a result of the carbon tax, I can’t help but think: aren’t there other technological innovations out there that could be achieved at much less cost to consumers to reduce total emissions by that 1 percent?” asked Mr. Kram.
Lawrence Hanson, associate deputy minister at Environment Canada, said the question assumes that the carbon tax is a form of spending that could be redirected elsewhere.
“The carbon price is something that is charged, and then largely revenue neutral, where the funding is actually returned in various different ways setting a price signal,” he said.
Conservatives have been pushing the Liberal government to drop the carbon tax or introduce temporary relief measures amid an affordability crunch.
The Liberals assert that eight out of ten households get more back from the carbon tax through rebates, whereas the Tories say that overall eight out of ten households are worse off because of it.
Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux assesses that if the broader economic impacts of the carbon tax are not accounted for, then the Liberals are correct. The Tories are right, however, when the broader impacts are calculated, he previously told The Epoch Times.
The federal fuel charge in most provinces has increased from $65 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent to $80 per tonne on April 1. This currently adds over 17 cents per litre of gasoline.
The Liberal government seeks to raise it to $170 per tonne by 2030, which would add over 37 cents to a litre of gasoline.
Mr. Mazier asked Mr. Guilbeault whether his government has discussed raising the fuel charge beyond $170.
“There’s been no such determination made at this point,” said the minister. When pressed, Mr. Guilbeault said there have been no conversations on the matter.