Kenney calls for carbon levy referendum

by Morinville News Staff

United Conservative Leader (UCP) Jason Kenney introduced Private Member’s Bill 202: The Alberta Taxpayer Protection Amendment Act Thursday. The bill would require any increase to the NDP’s carbon tax to put to directly to voters.

Kenney has long been an opponent of the tax which came into effect Jan. 1, 2017 at $20 per tonne of emissions, and increased to $30 per tonne Jan. 1 of this year. Federal rules would see all provinces raising the price of carbon to $50 a tonne by 2022.

Although environmental concerns were a major part of the NDP platform in 2015, Kenney and his party argue that a carbon levy was not specifically mentioned.

“The NDP hid their job-killing carbon tax from voters in the last election. Now they’re hiding from voters their intention to keep raising it,” said UCP Leader Jason Kenney in a release Thursday afternoon on his Private Member Bill. “We’ve been clear that should the United Conservatives form government, our first measure will be the Carbon Tax Repeal Act. Albertans will indeed have a chance to render judgement on the NDP’s carbon tax in spring 2019. But we must also ensure that a future government – even one a decade in the future – does not repeat the NDP’s affront to democracy by implementing a carbon tax without first consulting voters.”

The UCP have said the NDP did not campaign on its carbon tax in the 2015 campaign. The UCP also claim the party’s election platform does not mention ‘carbon tax,’ nor do the fiscal tables account for billions of dollars in tax revenue collected from a carbon tax.

Kenney said as President of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), he successfully advocated for Ralph Klein’s government to pass the Alberta Taxpayer Protection Act, a law requiring a government to hold a referendum before any effort to implement a provincial sales or consumption tax.

“At the time, few were discussing a tax on air, and as such ‘carbon tax’ is not specifically listed in the law,” he said. “Yet as nearly everything Albertans do or consume is linked to carbon, the NDP’s carbon tax at the very least violates the spirit of the law requiring a referendum for a provincial consumption tax. My bill rectifies and clarifies this by specifically adding ‘carbon tax’ to the law,” Kenney said.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

5 Comments

  1. How much is that going to cost us Kennochio? Or how about we’re at the mercy of Ottawa’s levy once they drop it? Man… this clown doesn’t have a clue – as do those who support this sham of a party.

  2. NDP OUT UPC IN!!! BUT SHOULD YOU TWO WISH TO CONTINUE TO PAY THE CARBON TAX AFTER THE UPC ARE ELECTED AND THE NDP SENT ON THEIR WAY… GO FOR IT!

  3. For all of you who lost their job to the TFWP… This is the guy who took your jobs away. Not the NDP. This closeted clown and his rich buddies, who laugh at how you blindly support them. #ComeOutKenney

  4. Fact: Most jobs taken up by the TFWP were in the economic boom in the province of Alberta and for jobs most workers here wouldn’t take. After the boom, many workers chose to take EI instead of working an entry level job. Fact #2: And now the TFWP has transitioned with the NDP economy and substantially reduced the number of foreign workers allowed.

Comments are closed.