Trudeau is punishing Albertans this Autumn

From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

The colder weather is here. Albertans are making dinners and heating our homes against the chill this Autumn.

Nourishing and normal things, such as preparing a holiday meal and staying warm, are now financially punishable offenses.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s two carbon taxes make driving to work, buying food and heating our homes cost much more.

As one of the Trudeau government consultants that drafted the legislation stated, the carbon tax is meant to “punish the poor behaviour of using fossil fuels.”

The first carbon tax adds 14 cents per litre of gasoline and 17 cents per litre of diesel. This costs about $10 extra to fill up a minivan and about $16 extra to fill up a pickup truck.

The carbon tax on diesel costs truckers about $160 extra to fill up the tanks on big-rig trucks.

The second carbon tax is a government fuel regulation that fines companies for the carbon in fuels. Those costs are passed down to drivers at the pump.

Trudeau fashioned his second carbon after British Columbia’s. B.C. drivers have been paying two carbon taxes for years, and it’s a key reason why they pay the highest fuel prices in North America, usually hovering at about $2 per litre. Trudeau wants to make Vancouver gas prices as commonly Canadian as maple syrup.

Trudeau imposed his second carbon tax this Canada Day. It’s not clear yet how much the second carbon tax costs for a litre of gasoline and diesel in Alberta. In Atlantic Canada, the second carbon tax tacks an extra four to eight cents per litre of fuel.

That big tax bill is only getting bigger because Trudeau is cranking up his carbon tax every year for the next seven years.

By 2030, Trudeau’s two carbon taxes will cost an extra 55 cents per litre of gasoline and 77 cents per litre of diesel, plus GST. Filling up a big rig truck with diesel will cost about $760 extra.

In seven years, average Albertans will pay more than $3,300 per year because of Trudeau’s two carbon taxes even after rebates.

Ordinary people pay Trudeau’s carbon taxes every day. So do truckers. So do farmers.

Remember the Thanksgiving turkey? Turkeys eat grain which is hit by the carbon tax when it goes through the grain dryer. Turkeys are raised in heated barns, which is carbon taxed, and the trucks hauling them from the slaughterhouse to the grocery store get carbon taxed, too. That’s how the carbon tax makes food cost more.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer reports the carbon tax will cost Canadians farmers close to $1 billion by 2030.

But it’s not just transportation and food that gets hit with the Trudeau’s carbon tax.

Home heating is punished too. The current carbon tax costs 12 cents extra per cubic metre of natural gas, 10 cents extra per litre of propane and 17 cents extra per litre of furnace oil.

An average Alberta home uses about 2,800 cubic metres of natural gas per year, so the carbon tax will cost them about $337 extra to heat their home. Costs are similar for propane and furnace oil.

Home heating is essential for a place like Alberta.

Punishing Canadians with a carbon tax is pointless and unfair.

It’s pointless because the carbon tax won’t fix climate change. As the PBO has noted, “Canada’s own emissions are not large enough to materially impact climate change.”

It’s unfair because ordinary people who are driving to work, buying food for their families and heating their homes are backed into a corner. Carbon tax cheerleaders tell them to “switch.”

Switch to what?

What abundant, reliable, affordable alternative energy source is available to Albertans? This isn’t like choosing between paper or plastic bags, this is about surviving the winter and affording food, or not.

Albertans should not be punished for staying warm and feeding our families.

Related Topics:#CanadianTaxpayersFederation #CarbonTax #FuelPrices #Inflation #KrisSims economy

Up Next

Justice Centre urges amending Public Health Act to protect Charter rights and freedoms

Don't Miss

Public information and warning: Violent sexual offender released in Edmonton

Todayville

Todayville is a digital media and technology company. We profile unique stories and events in our community. Register and promote your community event for free.

Follow Author

Judge slams Trudeau, media for false claims about deaths, ‘secret burials’ at residential schools

Education / 6 hours ago

Fired Alberta Professor Largely Vindicated

Crime / 11 hours ago

Numbers don’t lie—crime up significantly in Toronto and across Canada

Alberta

Alberta aggressively recruiting resident physicians from across Canada

Published on October 9, 2024

Government of Alberta

Competitive compensation for resident physicians

A new compensation agreement for resident physicians has been reached, which will help to retain and recruit more physicians throughout Alberta.

Alberta’s government, in partnership with Alberta Health Services (AHS), the University of Alberta, University of Calgary and the Professional Association of Resident Physicians of Alberta has reached a four-year agreement that provides competitive and fair-market compensation for physicians in training.

The negotiated agreement provides wage increases of three per cent in each of the first two years, and two per cent in each of the last two years. It also includes market adjustments that put Alberta on par with other western Canadian medical schools.

Ensuring resident physicians receive competitive, fair-market compensation while they train and provide services across the province will help stabilize and strengthen acute health care today while bringing medical students and ultimately more physicians to the province to support the province’s future health needs.

“Alberta’s government is grateful for all the hard work resident physicians put in as they complete their training. We are pleased to see that a new agreement has been reached and look forward to more physicians calling Alberta home.”

Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Health

“We are extremely grateful to all of our resident physicians, who play a vital role in caring for Albertans and supporting our front-line physicians and health care teams. This agreement will help us recruit medical students and encourage them to practise in this province.”

Athana Mentzelopoulos, president and CEO, AHS

Rural and Remote Family Medicine Resident Physician Bursary Pilot Program

The agreement builds on actions Alberta’s government is taking to make the province a more attractive place for medical students and resident physicians to study and practise. On Oct. 3, Alberta’s government announced measures to improve health care in rural and remote communities through the new Rural and Remote Family Medicine Resident Physician Bursary Pilot Program. The bursary program is part of the province’s Rural Health Action Plan.

The pilot program will provide up to $8 million annually for the next two years to medical students in their final year of an undergraduate medical program when they are matched with a family medicine residency program at the University of Alberta or University of Calgary, or to residents currently completing a family medicine residency at either university regardless of their year of study. In return, bursary recipients will commit to delivering comprehensive patient care in eligible communities for three years after completing their residency.

“With this agreement, Alberta strengthens its position as an attractive destination for resident physicians across Canada. By enhancing compensation, training and working conditions, we ensure Alberta recruits and retains the brightest medical talent to serve our communities and shape the future of health care.”

Dr. Pauwlina Cyca, president, Professional Association of Resident Physicians of Alberta (PARA)

“The University of Alberta is pleased collaborations with our partners have resulted in an agreement that reflects the critical impact resident physicians make in our health care system so all Albertans receive the care they need.”

Brenda Hemmelgarn, dean and vice-provost, College of Health Sciences, and dean, faculty of medicine & dentistry, University of Alberta

“Remuneration, respect, retention and recruitment of rural generalists are key to elevating rural hospitals to becoming rural centres of excellence. With this agreement and bursary pilot program, the Alberta government is recognizing rural health as being different, requiring separate and unique solutions for our communities that are mutually beneficial in enhancing the health of rural Albertans.”

Dr. Rithesh Ram, president, section of rural medicine, Alberta Medical Association

Quick facts

Resident physicians have graduated medical school but are completing post-graduate training in a residency program to obtain their licence to practise. With residency programs requiring an additional two to seven years of post-graduate training, most resident physicians spend more than 10 years training to become fully licensed physicians and surgeons.
The Professional Association of Resident Physicians of Alberta represents more than 1,660 resident physicians in Alberta.
The current agreement between AHS, the University of Alberta, University of Calgary and the association ended on June 30, 2024.
The resident physician agreement is funded by Alberta Health through a grant to AHS and the universities.

Related information

Postgraduate medical education (AHS)

“It’s Canada’s Time to Shine” – CNRL’s $6.5 Billion Chevron Deal Extends Oil Sands Buying Spree

Published on October 8, 2024

Todayville

From Energy Now

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.’s $6.5 billion acquisition from Chevron Corp. marks the latest in a string of deals that has helped make it the country’s largest oil producer and brought Alberta’s massive oil sands deposits almost entirely under local control.

CNRL has feasted on the oil sands assets of foreign energy producers over the past decade, snapping up stakes and operations from Devon Energy Corp. and Shell Plc as they shifted away from the higher-cost, higher-emissions oil sands business. Investors have applauded the strategy, which allows CNRL to boost output and make the operations more efficient.

That trend continued on Monday, with CNRL shares climbing more than 4% after the deal with Chevron raised its stake in a key oil sands mine and a connected upgrading facility, while also adding natural gas assets in the Duvernay formation.

“These assets build on the robustness of Canadian Natural’s assets,” said CNRL President Scott Stauth said on a conference call Monday. The deal boosts CNRL’s stake in the Athabasca oil sands project, which it first bought from Shell in 2017, to 90% from 70%.

The acquisition was largely expected and boosts CNRL’s oil and gas output by roughly 9%, adding the equivalent of 122,500 barrels of oil production per day.

“It’s just been a matter of time,” Eight Capital analyst Phil Skolnick said by phone, noting that CNRL had been seen as the logical buyer for Chevron’s oil sands business.

While CNRL also boosted its dividend by 7% on Monday, Desjardins analyst Chris MacCulloch cautioned the company’s additional debt to finance the acquisition “may disappoint some investors” given it plans to temporarily slow capital returns.

Still, MacCulloch said the deal is positive overall for CNRL as it further consolidates assets in the region. “There’s no place like home,” he wrote in a note.

Chevron, for its part, is the latest in a long line of US and international oil producers — such as BP Plc, TotalEnergies SE and Equinor ASA — that have shifted away from the oil sands after spending billions to build facilities in the heavy-oil formation. That has left the oil sands largely in the control of Canadian firms including CNRL, Suncor Energy Inc. and Cenovus Energy Inc.

“There’s no remaining, obvious assets available,” Ninepoint Partners partner and senior portfolio manager Eric Nuttall said after Monday’s deal. Ninepoint owns 3.1 million shares in CNRL, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Many of those oil sands deals have been struck at prices that favor the Canadian buyers, which have consolidated land, reduced costs and boosted returns in recent years.

“It’s Canada’s time to shine,” Nuttall said, adding that he expects foreign investors will return to the country’s oil producers in the future.