OTTAWA – Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is adamant that the Conservatives are lying about the Liberals imposing a new green tax on pickup trucks and wants to assure the public that the Liberals have no interest in penalizing the owners of the giant, gas-guzzling vanity trucks currently choking Canadas streets and air.
Guilbeault stated that there is no secret plan to tax pickup trucks to discourage people buying them. Some pickup trucks weigh three times as much and are three times more likely than sedans to hit pedestrians. We do not intend to dissuade individuals from driving these deadly, carbon-spewing machines on the streets of Canadian cities. In fact, we resent the suggestion that they do.
Canadians should know that we have no interest in a pickup truck taxes which could be used to reduce the environmental damage these trucks do to the environment. We don’t want to collect money from the sale pickup trucks to pay for healthcare costs related to the increased levels of asthma and other health problems caused by these trucks. These trucks are primarily driven by urban and suburban dwellers, who have no reason to drive 3000 kg vehicles to work. We believe that the money would be better spent on custom painted trucks, leather interiors, and tricked-out truck nuts.
The Conservative claim that the pickup tax is a tax on the wealthy stems from a recommendation by the Net Zero Advisory Body. This body has 40 non-binding recommendations, which the government does not have to enact and Guilbeault firmly denies any interest in.
Guilbeault stated that the Liberal government has made it very clear what their position is on the environment, from giving green light to Bay du Nord’s oil megaproject to ensuring that most money in the budget for 2022 goes towards climate action. We were, of course, against it.
This type of politics can be divisive and distracting. We all have to make superficial nods at climate change, but we must also continue to do business as usual.
To counter the Conservatives’ accusations of environmentalalism, the Liberals have introduced new rebates for electric trucks and SUVs. This is to encourage Canadians not to use public transit or, God forbid, a bicycle, but to continue to purchase large, resource-intensive, private vehicles.