Prime Minister Mark Carney wasted little time in removing a potent point of attack for the Conservatives in recent years: the consumer carbon tax.
After being sworn in on Friday, Carney’s cabinet ended the tax through what’s known as an order-in-council.
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau first implemented the carbon pricing scheme in 2019.
But as Canadians experienced high inflation in the years following, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s pledge to “axe the tax” gained traction among voters.
Carney had previously supported a carbon pricing scheme, but said during his bid for the Liberal leadership that the current policy had become “too divisive” and promised to kill the policy.
It was designed as a financial incentive for people and businesses to change their behaviour to burn less fossil fuel and transition to greener forms of energy, thus helping Canada lower its emissions.
To help offset costs, rebates were offered to residents in provinces where the policy applied.
In 2023, the Liberal government put a three-year pause on the carbon tax for home heating oil.
An industrial carbon tax on large emitters remains in place.
