Ottawa, ON – Today, the Hon. Pierre Poilievre, Leader of His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition and the Conservative Party of Canada, and Jasraj Hallan, Conservative Shadow Minister for National Revenue, sent the following letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney calling on him to scrap his Labour Day gas tax hike:
Prime Minister,
Next week, Canadians will drive by the gas station and see prices suddenly rise 10 cents per litre as your government hikes the gas tax. Not only will they pay more to fill up their car, but they will pay more for everything shipped by truck or train.
Already, Canadians are paying more than they can bear: gas prices have skyrocketed 25.7 per cent while energy costs overall have surged 16.6 per cent. This has pushed the cost of transportation up 7.8 per cent while the cost of groceries rose 3.1 per cent.
All of this is terrible news for the family filling up the minivan before taking the kids back-to-school shopping, the senior trying to fill their shopping cart on a fixed income, and the trucker filling up their rig before delivering goods across our country.
It’s also placing increasing pressure on our small businesses, with 58 per cent saying that rising fuel costs have negatively impacted their business, including 75 per cent of those in the Atlantic provinces. As they face rising costs, almost half of those surveyed businesses are considering permanently closing this year.
No wonder 63 per cent of Canadians oppose ending the suspension of the fuel excise tax, with 43 per cent strongly opposed to your Labour Day tax hike. That includes 72 per cent of seniors, 68 per cent of women, and 61 per cent of those 35-54 years old, opposed to ending the fuel tax suspension.
That’s why Conservatives have called on you to cancel your planned Labour Day gas tax hike and adopt our plan to remove all taxes on gas until at least Canada Day 2027. That means not only suspending the fuel excise tax, but also removing the GST on gas and diesel and permanently eliminating the Clean Fuel Regulation and the Industrial Carbon Tax.
Together, these measures would save Canadians up to 25 cents per litre and a family as much as $1,200 a year.
Prime Minister, Canadians can’t afford to pay even more for fuel, food and homebuilding materials. It’s time to cancel the Liberal tax hike, extend relief and deliver lower, more affordable prices for our people.