Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre is calling on the Liberal federal government to temporarily cut gas taxes as Canadians face staggering fuel prices ahead of the summer driving season.
With the price of almost everything rising due to a maximum of 30 years of inflation, the cost of living has become the main political problem in Canada.
Statistics Canada said last week that its April consumer price index rose 6.8% from a year ago, more than a year-on-year increase of 6.7% in March.
The war in Ukraine and the resulting supply shocks have pushed up the prices that people pay for the bomb. Some estimates suggest that gasoline is about 55 percent more expensive this year than last.
Retailers typically charge more than $ 2 a liter in markets such as Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Atlantic Canada.
Gas prices in Sydney, NS this week. (Tom Ayers / CBC)
In an effort to take advantage of dissatisfaction with these higher prices, Poilievre sent a letter to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland on Tuesday demanding that Ottawa “give people a break” by eliminating the gas tax, the tax on carbon and GST in gasoline sales this summer.
“It’s so high, people are suffering, and there are no signs of relief. Everywhere I feel the same: Canadians are making very difficult decisions just to fill up their gas tanks and get where they need to go. “, Poilievre. he said in his letter to Freeland.
“This may not be true for you and your friends, but for most Canadians, driving is not an option. They have to drive to see family, groceries, and work. cases, they have to drive, push to do their job “.
Poilievre proposes that the government suspend the various fuel taxes between June 1 and August 31, when many Canadians will hit the road to visit family and friends.
Asked if the government was open to suspending federal gas taxes, a Freeland spokesman did not address the question, but said the minister “will continue to focus on supporting working Canadians.”
“We know that the cost of living is a real concern for Canadians, which is why accessibility was at the heart of the budget released last month,” the spokesman said. The budget included a promise to implement dental care and some new housing incentives that will be launched later this year or early next.
Poilieve is not the first Conservative politician to propose a tax cut on bombs.
With rising prices, Alberta Prime Minister Jason Kenney has temporarily suspended the 13-cent-per-liter provincial gas tax.
Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford, campaigning for re-election, has vowed to cut the province’s petrol tax if Ontarians return his party to government on June 2.
Poilievre said that if he became prime minister, he would go further and abandon what he calls the “Brown / Charest / Trudeau carbon tax,” a reference to his leadership rivals Patrick Brown and Jean Charest, both of whom have supported some kind. of the carbon rate in the past to help reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels.
Most of the money raised through the Liberal government’s carbon price is returned to taxpayers in the form of discount checks. It is the cornerstone of Ottawa’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 to 45% below 2005 levels by 2030.
In the last federal budget, Freeland also introduced incentives to encourage people to buy zero-emission vehicles, a change that would help Canadians greatly reduce their dependence on fossil fuels.