QUESTION PERIOD — Environment and Climate Change
Carbon Tax
October 31, 2023
Government leader, in March, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, or CFIB, released a report entitled Fueling Unfairness: Carbon Pricing and Small Businesses. This report estimates that small businesses pay close to half of the carbon tax revenue collected by the Trudeau government. However, only 0.17% of all carbon tax revenues were returned to small businesses between the 2019-20 and 2022-23 fiscal years. Clearly, the Prime Minister’s carbon tax is not worth the cost to our entrepreneurs.
Leader, why did your government use the carbon tax funding set aside for small business to pay for the rebates announced last week? Why won’t you just axe the tax to help small businesses across Canada that are struggling to survive?
Thank you for your question. You cannot fight climate change — an existential threat to our planet, community, children and well-being — without a suite of measures, which includes putting a price on pollution.
Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy. This government has been there to help them through the pandemic. There’s still help available in terms of the deferral of repayment of the benefits that kept them afloat during the pandemic, and the government will continue to consider measures to assist those whose economic entrepreneurial wherewithal provides jobs, security and a future for all Canadians.
