The federal carbon tax is currently at $30 per tonne right now and is set to increase by $10 a tonne until 2022, when it will then increase by $15 a tonne each year until it hits $170 per tonne in 2030.

The plan includes funds to help . . .

industries transition to emission reducing technologies, funds for communities to improve energy efficiency and to move off diesel fuel, electric vehicle tax benefits, home retrofit funding and many other aspects that will be implemented over the next 10 years. The plan is the newest component of the government’s goal of lowering greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.

Pontiac MP Will Amos said that the climate plan is just as much a set of industrial policy shifts as it is anything else.

“We’re sending a clear signal that we have a credible path to get to net zero by 2050,” he said. “We have a plan across the country that experts, NGOs and editorial boards are agreeing will get us to achieve and exceed our Paris [climate agreement] goals.”

He said that the federal government upping the price of carbon allows residents in provinces like Quebec, where a cap and trade system is in place, to compete with people in those other provinces where carbon pricing was not in place. Carbon pricing systems in other provinces have kept pace with the federal amount up to this point in time.

“We’ve established minimum carbon price standards so that it’s not unfair in the Pontiac when Quebec has established a price that meets or exceeds the federal standard but Ontario has not,” Amos said.

He added that while he thinks the carbon tax gets framed as a tax grab by political opponents, it is actually the best way to lower carbon emissions.

“Putting a price on pollution is the most cost effective tool that exists to protect the environment and address the reality of climate change, it has the least impact on people’s day to day life,” he said.

Amos explained that the government is required by law to make the carbon tax revenue neutral, which is why Canadians receive yearly rebates with proceeds from the tax. Part of the newly announced plan is the government’s intention to make the rebates quarterly by as soon as 2022.

Amos said buying an electric car is more doable than ever before, pointing out that there are rebates available from the federal government and from the Quebec government. The federal rebate, which was in place prior to the new climate plan, is a tax credit worth up to $7,500 while Quebec’s rebate can be worth up to $8,000.

He added that he expects to see significant electrification from the big players in the automotive industry.

“It’s going to help us create and save jobs because if we hold onto the old economy we’re going to find ourselves watching jobs move to other jurisdictions where they’re building those machines that are the norm,” he said.

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