Carbon tax rebate far from full climate solution

The carbon tax rebate is a step in the right direction, but there is still much to be done to address pollution, according to a local environmentalist.

Windfall Ecology Centre executive director Brent Kopperson listened with interest as federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau explained how the rebate will work, at a roundtable discussion at the centre located on Industrial Parkway in Aurora.

A federal carbon tax will begin Jan. 1 at $20 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions and is intended to increase by $10 per year until the tax hits $50 per tonne in 2022. The federal government gave provinces the choice to create their own strategy or it would enforce a strategy on the province’s behalf. Ontario did not choose to create its own.

“It is an interesting idea, and the rebate makes it revenue-neutral,” Kopperson said following the discussion.

A family of four in Ontario would receive about $300 as a rebate next year, according to a Toronto Star exclusive that also pointed out that amount could jump to $718 by 2022. The rebate will exceed the expected $240 in increased costs related to the carbon tax expected in 2019, according to the unnamed Parliament Hill source.

“Now that the government is putting this money back in residents’ pockets, the question is how to make it count,” Kopperson added. “How are we going to get people to reinvest that rebate to reduce pollution?”