Carbon Tax Increase Takes Effect

The Federal Government’s plans to increase the Federal Carbon Tax took effect on April 1st.

Darryl Fransoo a Director with the Western Canadian Wheat Growers says a tax increase is foolish right now.

“I would even implore them to get rid of it totally in this time where we are facing a big time economic crisis. It’s all the way from the top down and it ends up taking money out of our bottom line. We pay extra for transportation; we pay extra for rail transportation.”

The Trudeau Government’s Carbon Tax increased from $20 to $30 a tonne this year and is set to go to $50 a tonne by 2022.

John Barlow, the Conservative Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food, says the Liberals are carbon taxing Canadian agriculture into bankruptcy.

“This is proving to be extremely costly to farming and ranching, and the processing side of agriculture, they can't afford it. This is money they don't have.”

The Conservatives have been calling on the Liberals to exempt Agriculture from the Carbon Tax or at least expand the exemptions to all farm fuels including natural gas and propane, which will impact grain drying and the heat for barns.