As all Canadians come out of the Christmas holiday break and early January lockdowns and turn their minds back to work for the new year, we here at CAE are looking at what kind of year 2022 will be for energy affordability.
Sorry folks, but in 2022 energy is going to be much more expensive.
There are lots of reasons, most of which connect back to the many expensive implications of the green agenda being pushed by Justin Trudeau and his green cronies. Subsidies, regulations, bans, and the many taxes being imposed all add up – sending signals that discourage investment, destabilize markets and hurt customers.
And the most obvious and public of all these harmful actions is Trudeau’s carbon tax. It will rise 25% effective April 1st, to $50/tonne from the current $40/tonne price.
$50 dollars a tonne means:
- Higher gasoline, diesel, heating oil, propane, and natural gas prices, and higher electricity prices wherever those hydrocarbon fuels are necessary to generate electricity (remember that when wind isn’t blowing or hydro levels aren’t there – as often happens in the winter – you need backup power, and overwhelming the backup that works best for them is a hydrocarbon, so you still need hydrocarbons for electricity).
- Higher food prices, as farmers have to pay more for energy to produce food, and all of us have to pay for the higher energy costs to transport food to grocery stores. (Have you noticed the price of a litre of milk lately??)
- Higher prices for consumer goods like clothing, and furniture, and everything else – which is everything – that is dependent on energy.
I’ve been telling people a lot about gasoline and diesel prices lately – they are getting closer and closer to two dollars a litre across the country. They are the most visible sign for all of us of what Trudeau’s carbon tax means - as we see them posted at gas stations across the country.
But gasoline and diesel prices aren’t the only clear indication of high carbon taxes. In most jurisdictions your electric bill, your natural gas/propane bill, your grocery bill, your clothing costs, your rent, and virtually every other bill you have is going up thanks to Trudeau’s carbon tax.
And by the way, next year the carbon tax will start rising more quickly – by $15/tonne, until it gets to $170/tonne in 2030. And if that isn’t enough, the Canadian Energy Regulator lays out a scenario for it to go to over $400 a tonne by 2050.
Where does this end? As I have several times recently, I will point to the United Kingdom to show how this plays out. British citizens are seeing bills suddenly skyrocketing, they are seeing energy poverty, and they are seeing economic deprivation, all because of Trudeau-like green policies. We will get the same here.
Our Prime Minister and his colleagues will continue to tell us this is all the necessary suffering to achieve the net zero universe they pretend to be realistic. But of course they don’t suffer. They and their friends draw the public salaries, and receive the subsidies for their pet projects, and the sinecures to pension them off while the everyday Canadian is left with debt, a lower quality of life and a higher cost of living.
2022: more carbon taxes. Less affordable energy. A less affordable life. Thank you Justin Trudeau.