OTTAWA – Erin O’Toole pushed back against critics who have accused his plan for a carbon tax of being a carbon tax.
“Our carbon levy is in no way a tax,” said O’Toole. “It is merely a charge imposed on top of the price of a customer’s purchases according to a rate set by the government, which is then used in accordance with standards set by that same government.”
“Plus with ours, you keep the money we tax… I mean charge, unlike Liberals plan where the government takes the money… and then gives more back to you in the form of a rebate.”
O’Toole also defended his program as being free of the government interference caused by the Liberals’ carbon tax program, with the slight exception of the massive amount of bureaucracy that will be necessary to determine whether people’s purchases from their new ‘low carbon savings account’ are in fact environmentally friendly. But he mostly focused on the tax issue.
“For something to be a tax, wouldn’t it have to make the government richer, instead of oil & gas companies?” he posed rhetorically.
As an extra bonus, Canadians using these savings account will be able to track their “carbon footprint,” a term created by British Petroleum in order to pass the blame for Climate Change to individuals and avoid any kind of institutional reform.
In the coming days the Conservatives are also expected to roll out their platform for the next election, although they insist it isn’t a “platform” for an “election,” but merely a “series of ideas and policies we will put in place if, by circumstance, we form a government someday.”
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