Amid truly horrid polling numbers, the federal Liberals are arguing that Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre is trying to “rob” money from citizens by advocating for the carbon tax to be scrapped.

The Trudeau Government’s new attack strategy comes as the ever-increasing carbon tax is set to raise on April 1, from $65 per tonne of carbon emissions to $80.

The increase translates to an added 17 cents per litre on gasoline, 21 cents per litre on diesel, and 15 cents per cubic metre of natural gas. 

“The Canada Carbon Rebate is going up and Pierre Poilievre wants to rob you of it,” stated the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson. 

By “Canada Carbon Rebate,” Minister Wilkinson is referring to the carbon tax that his Liberal Party recently rebranded as a tax that makes most citizens richer.

Minister Wilkinson’s message pointed to a CBC article from January that focused on a Saskatchewan resident, Germaine Rhomberg, who said she was worried that she would become poorer if her carbon rebates from the government dried up. Rhomberg’s concerns arose after her Premier, Scott Moe, stopped collecting the tax on Saskatchewanians’ heating bills. 

“I’m very anxious because it’s a big part of my economy. My budget is set every single month. It’s a fixed income,” she said.

A tax that makes the government and Canadians richer? 

The debate over the carbon tax rebates has the Liberals claiming that about 80% of families are richer because of the tax, and the Conservatives claiming about the opposite. 

The webpage from the government’s climate change department states that “8 out of 10 households get more money back than they spend on the fuel charge.”

Both sides are actually clinging to different lines from the same report. Last year, Yves Giroux, Canada’s parliamentary budget officer, said that rebates are higher than the direct cost of the carbon tax for 80% of families. The Liberals have been touting this line in the House of Commons ever since.

But Giroux also said that when taking into account the impact the tax has on job growth and incomes, 80% of families could pay more into it than they receive back in rebates. Naturally, the Conservatives have focused on this element.

Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith has claimed that citizens are paying more in the tax than they’re getting back in the rebates.

“People know that, they feel it,” she told The Counter Signal on Wednesday.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has likewise pointed to the fact that the carbon tax makes everything more expensive.

“It’s a tax that raises prices on absolutely everything from fuel to groceries to electricity. From everything you touch, it all gets transported in one way or another,” he said in October. 

Seven Premiers have now asked Trudeau to at least pause the tax before his next planned increase.