With a federal election looming, Canadians should ask themselves whether they trust anything the Liberal leadership contenders are saying now about what they’ll do as prime minister.
Given that the best indicator of future performance is past practice, the answer is “No.”
In recent days, the two leading contenders to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have done everything from acknowledging that his government overspent and overtaxed the middle class (Mark Carney) to admitting Trudeau’s carbon tax lacks public support and needs to be overhauled (Chrystia Freeland).
Carney and Freeland vigorously supported Trudeau’s carbon tax up until a couple of weeks ago — demonstrating loyalty to the prime minister at the time — but also that they are conventional politicians willing to say anything to get elected, as opposed to politicians who act based on deeply held convictions.
The conventional wisdom from Liberals these days is that the carbon tax issue is dead and has been taken over by the potential economic damage Canada is facing because of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian goods entering the U.S. as early as Feb. 1.
We disagree.
First, because the carbon tax is only one of 149 programs the Trudeau government has created, ostensibly to fight climate change, at a cost of over $200 billion to taxpayers.
This has major negative implications for our economy, now that the U.S., our major trading partner which has never had a national carbon tax, is focusing on increasing the use of fossil fuels under Trump.
The second concern is that, whatever the leadership contenders are saying today, there is no guarantee of what they will say tomorrow.
To cite one of many examples, the Trudeau government’s original position was that its carbon tax would be frozen at $50 per tonne of emissions. Today it’s at $80 per tonne — increasing the cost of almost everything — and rising to $95 per tonne on April 1, on its way to $170 per tonne on April 1, 2030.
The real ballot question in this year’s federal election, with regard to the Liberals, is whether voters can trust anything they say.
The answer, based on their record, is “No.”