Premier’s carbon tax vow ‘fiction’: opposition
Premier Sandy Silver’s alleged broken promise to voters about carbon tax rebates left the official opposition crying foul Wednesday.
Premier Sandy Silver’s alleged broken promise to voters about carbon tax rebates left the official opposition crying foul Wednesday.
The Yukon Party went on the offensive, calling the government’s commitment “a work of fiction” in the house, and later releasing a statement on the very issue.
“Yukoners took the premier at his word when he promised that 100 per cent of the carbon tax revenues would be returned to them,” it reads, quoting house leader Scott Kent.
“It’s now clear he said one thing to get elected and now is doing something entirely different,” Kent said of Silver.
The opposition is also criticizing the government after Silver “shockingly suggested that Yukoners were naive for believing him,” Kent continued.
He accused Silver of calling voters naive, and urged the premier to apologize for that and for allegedly breaking the campaign promise.
Silver rose to clarify the matter.
“Again, here we go with the Yukon Party,” sighed the premier, going on to say the rebates will be returning to “our pockets.”
Silver told the Star today that while he admits the lack of details may frustrate some, the government’s hands seem to be tied.
“I sympathize that a lot of Yukoners are concerned with what that rebate looks like,” he said, but the dates of consultation have been pushed back by Ottawa as his government is left “anxiously awaiting.”
And, Silver points out, limited consultation between the Yukon Liberals and the federal government would have left the territory in worse shape.
“Without the negotiations we’re holding, the money wouldn’t be going back to Yukoners; Ottawa would have just collected the money.”
“One hundred per cent of the funds that will be collected from a federal carbon-pricing mechanism in this region will be given back to Yukoners and Yukon businesses,” Silver said. He later accused the opposition of taking his words out of context.
He went on to attack the opposition, saying “the naiveté comes from the Yukon Party, which would believe that every single nickel” would return to every single pocket under the Liberals’ $26-million carbon tax scheme.
“Sometimes I think the Yukon Party lives in the upside down,” Silver added, likening the allegations to “pure gamesmanship.”
The premier did remind Kent and the Yukon Party that Ottawa has already had conversations with the Council of the Federation.
“I mean, it’s a federal tax, the last time I checked,” he said.
Silver added that his government is scheduled to meet with Catherine McKenna, the federal minister of Environment and Climate Change, among others, in Ottawa once the spring session ends Tuesday.
Comments (14)
Up 0 Down 0
Carbon tax is going to cost Canadians on Apr 26, 2018 at 6:42 am
$10 billion dollars a year that = 890,000 job losses in Canada.
In the Yukon, Federal Government stated it would cost Yukoners $26 million when it is more like $46 not including the embedded tax from BC and AB mostly.
Wilf Carter
Up 0 Down 0
Wilf Carter on Apr 26, 2018 at 6:38 am
Charles, the carbon tax is not going to show on any receipts. I read the matter on the tax. It is going to be embedded into the price so you don't see how much tax you are paying. Don't forget there is 5% GST on top of all we buy at least 4 times.
Up 9 Down 0
Groucho d'North on Apr 24, 2018 at 11:40 am
Looks like Trudeau has hung Sandy out for some solar energy, all the while withholding the information citizens are asking for. The Libs are scared of releasing the financial data that will tell us how hard we'll be screwed with his carbon tax. Even the document copy the opposition acquired was heavily redacted so the truth does not come out. Time for a vote of No Confidence for this government. I sure as hell have none for them other than their uncanny abilities to make things tougher on the middle class. Cast them out!
Up 0 Down 3
Francis P. on Apr 24, 2018 at 6:23 am
You guys didn't take the Premier "literally", when he was obviously speaking "figuratively"; did you? I like to think of this as a 'cool tax.'
Up 10 Down 0
Juniper Jackson on Apr 23, 2018 at 3:10 am
Sandy Silver said on Sept. 27, 2016: "The Liberals fired back, saying they could not impose a carbon tax on Yukon, because territorial law requires any new tax be agreed to by Yukoners in a referendum." So where is that referendum Sandy?
I am so disappointed in the performance of the Liberal Party... I didn't even expect that much.. I thought we needed change and Paslowski was after Seniors.. (cost him the election..Seniors vote) No one could have foreseen that Trudeau would turn out to be an incompetent leader, or that Sandy would jump on the crazy wagon.. I'm pretty sure it won't happen again though, and the first party to say we'll repeal that tax, we'll repeal all of the Liberal bills will likely see a sweep of the next election..
Up 9 Down 0
Charles on Apr 21, 2018 at 1:37 pm
All this tax nonsense will do is close down more businesses, especially the small ones because people will buy much less. @ Wilf you are partly correct, not all the tax can be rebated because what has been paid before items arrive here is lost, but no reason why everyone can't keep receipts that itemize the tax and submit those for rebate annually or quarterly. In that way the rebate would be fair & based on what you personally paid, not on what someone else paid. Of course that will mean another YT dept to deal with it, but we all know that will happen whatever method Sandy & his pals dream up.
Up 9 Down 0
north_of_60 on Apr 20, 2018 at 8:02 pm
"Returned to Yukoners" is Libspeak for giving the rebate to the Territorial and Municipal governments to further bloat the useless bureaucracy and fund even more ridiculous greenwashed boondoggles.
Up 14 Down 0
My Opinion on Apr 20, 2018 at 12:15 pm
Figuring out the cost of this Tax is like pealing back the layers of an Onion. From suppliers to manufacturers, transportation, distribution, retail we are doomed. There is no way the public can afford this.
Up 11 Down 0
My Opinion on Apr 20, 2018 at 12:11 pm
You my friend are a complete Liar. You have said over and over that every cent would be returned to Yukoners. It is in large part how you managed to get elected. This should be held off till the next election and made an election issue.
Up 10 Down 0
BB on Apr 19, 2018 at 9:14 pm
Sandy is going to wear this because he did not even make the slightest effort to get the Yukon out of this ridiculous scheme, even though the Yukon Party had made some headway in that direction for pretty good reasons pertaining to the realities of living in the north.
Trudeau is fully committed, as usual to the point of spending $2 billion or more of our tax money if necessary, to increasing the output of the oilsands by 40%. The carbon produced from that increase is equal to the emissions of every road vehicle in Ontario, year in and year out for as long as those production levels are maintained.
So don't tell me Trudeau has as a main goal 'reducing emissions'. He wants money, and lots of it. Whether from 'carbon tax', or from oil sands royalties, he doesn't care.
Up 12 Down 0
Concerned on Apr 19, 2018 at 8:49 pm
Yep. Here we go! Some comments previously had stated how wonderful the carbon tax was for BC. According to many people in BC, the carbon tax continues to increase each year, but they have not seen one cent. Once in a while, a Mickey Mouse environmental project will surface that amounts to zero benefit to the population. Can anyone say "cash grab". And can anyone say Sandy Silver is whipped and honestly could care less about the population of the Yukon?
Up 9 Down 0
CJ on Apr 19, 2018 at 5:02 pm
I despise the idea of the City of Whitehorse getting hold of any rebates more than I can even express. Then it would be just another tax. If this Liberal Party is negotiating anything like that, I will never vote for them. At least if the federal government just kept it, there's a chance it will go into health care or something else I actually approve of.
It certainly didn't occur to me that was an option when Sandy Silver was campaigning. I had the impression it would be a rebate similar to the GST rebate. Not getting poured into the City of Whitehorse general revenues for them to fund a lot of vanity projects with a dubious "sustainability" label, while telling residents if they want better services, they'll have to raise taxes.
Up 7 Down 0
Wilf Carter on Apr 19, 2018 at 3:52 pm
The carbon tax can't be rebated to every Yukoner based on what we each pay in carbon tax.
Up 11 Down 0
ProScience Greenie on Apr 19, 2018 at 3:03 pm
Err, sorry Sandy but you pretty much implied that you'd get us that carbon sin tax money back in our pockets.
If all you're going to do is get that money back from Ottawa and bloat a few government departments, feed the consulting industry and fund a few green optics projects then that is neither green or keeping with your promise. This tax is going to hurt a lot of Yukoners living on the edge as the gap between well off and poor grows. Not good for the average Yukoner Sandy and probably not good for your party's re-election chances.