By Jason Nixon, MLA
Most Albertans don’t have to look very far to see the steep toll NDP policies are having on their communities.
But this new NDP carbon tax might just be the last straw for thousands of Albertans who are already struggling to make ends meet in a hard-hit economy.
Wildrose proposed 15 amendments to try and limit the damage this tax will cause. The most important would have required getting the Albertans who will be paying this unexpected tax to approve it first in a referendum. Wildrose firmly believes that Albertans deserve to have a say before the NDP imposes the largest tax increase in provincial history on them.
But the NDP unanimously voted down that referendum amendment, along with the 14 others, and proceeded to bulldoze Bill 20 through the legislature.
The NDP tried to assure us that Albertans want this tax, even though polling shows 68 per cent of Albertans oppose it. They said it will be good for business, even though we’re hearing more and more stories of businesses closing because they cannot absorb the looming tax burden. And they said it would get us social license for energy projects, even though Alberta continues to struggle through this downturn, while Saskatchewan attracts billions of dollars in oil patch investment with no carbon tax in place.
The truth is that the NDP knows this carbon tax will be more bad news for families, businesses, schools, hospitals and charities at a time when they can least afford it.
They are putting their party ideology, or, as the deputy premier calls it in the legislature – “the NDP worldview” – ahead of the overall good of our province.
The NDP did not run on an economy-wide carbon tax in the last election. They have no right to bring one in without taking the question to Albertans first.
If the NDP wanted to bring in a PST, they would by law have to hold a public referendum. The same spirit of that law – the Taxpayer Protection Act – should apply here, as this carbon tax will increase the price of virtually every good and service in the province.
It was very concerning to see the NDP dismiss our common sense amendments during the Bill 20 debate.
Nowhere was this more evident than on an amendment we proposed that would protect charities and non-profits – who are already working around-the-clock to meet record demand – from the effects of this punishing carbon tax.
The NDP again voted this amendment down without even giving it due consideration.
Now charities are assessing the cost increases they’ll face as a result of this carbon tax and questioning whether or not they will remain viable in the face of sagging donations.
This is shameful.
The carbon tax is a reckless NDP experiment. It will siphon money away from families, charities, small businesses, and the core government services Albertans rely on, and funnel it into a new government slush fund with little accountability attached.
This is not something Albertans want, and Albertans deserved to have a say before the NDP forced it onto them.
Jason Nixon is the Wildrose Shadow Minister for Democracy and Accountability