January 1, 2018: Today, the NDP hiked its job-killing carbon tax by 50 per cent, increasing the cost of virtually everything from home heating to groceries.
“The NDP carbon tax has already killed thousands of good-paying jobs, put hardworking Alberta entrepreneurs out of business, and made life more expensive families across the province,” said United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney. “Today, despite never having mentioned a carbon tax during the 2015 election, the NDP digs even deeper into the pockets of everyday Albertans.”
“The carbon tax is all economic pain with no environmental gain. As the architect of the NDP’s carbon tax plan himself admitted, the tax drives emissions to jurisdictions that do not have a carbon tax. Albertans understand this: despite the Government spending millions of tax dollars trying to buy support for their carbon tax, polls consistently show high disapproval for the NDP’s plan.”
“The Carbon Tax was supposed to buy ‘social license’ for pipelines to get built. Instead, since the NDP announced its plan, Justin Trudeau vetoed approved Northern Gateway, Barack Obama vetoed Keystone XL, the National Energy Board effectively killed Energy East, and the NDP government in BC is doing everything it can to block TransMountain. Not one single government, party, or special interest group has gone from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ on pipelines as a result of the NDP’a failed tax on everything.”
“Punishing Albertans with this tax is not an environmental strategy. Seniors can only turn down the heat at home by so much, and people can’t stop driving to work. That’s why countries around the world are going in the opposite direction, like Australia’s recent carbon tax repeal, and the United States, where voters have consistently opposed carbon taxes.”
“Alberta families and job-creators have suffered enough under this NDP government, and now they have to endure a 50 per cent increase in a carbon tax that hasn’t converted a single opponent of Alberta’s energy industry into a supporter. To make matters worse, the NDP has promised a further 67 per cent increase should they be re-elected in 2019.”
“The United Conservatives will work tirelessly in 2018 to ensure that the damage inflicted on Albertans by the disastrous NDP is reversed. Indeed, the first bill of a United Conservative Government will be the ‘Carbon Tax Repeal Act,’” concluded Kenney.