Former federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver is warning Ottawa’s new carbon tax rebate plan could hurt Canadian competitiveness even further.
“I have a real concern about the carbon tax,” Oliver, now the chairman of Echelon Wealth Partners, told BNN Bloomberg’s Jon Erlichman in an interview Thursday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday his plan to impose a carbon tax on four provinces that have failed to implement their own pricing plans, including Ontario, and offer rebates to Canadian residents to help offset resulting costs passed onto to the consumer, like higher electricity bills.
The federal government said it foresees that the average household will receive more in rebates than it will pay in taxes.
“What the prime minister is proposing is to give some, or he claims all, of the tax – which is going to affect everything – back to individuals,” Oliver said. “But he’s not giving any of it back to corporations. So that exacerbates the competitiveness issue.”
Oliver’s comments come in the wake of mounting concerns from business leaders across the country, who have been urging the current Finance Minister Bill Morneau to address Canada’s competitiveness since the Trump administration slashed its corporate tax rate to 21 per cent from 35 per cent in January.
“If we don’t address the competitiveness issues, we’re in trouble,” Oliver said.
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