The policy director at Clean Energy Canada says an advertisement from the Conservative Party of Canada “misrepresents the findings of our modeling and analysis of the Clean Fuel Standard, and risks misleading Canadians.”
The ad’s narration and text claims that Canadians will pay 31 cents more at the pumps for gasoline due to the national carbon tax. However, in small print seen at the bottom of the ad attributes 5 cents of this to the Clean Fuel Standard, citing a report from Clean Energy Canada.
The Clean Fuel Standard was introduced by the Trudeau government on Nov. 25, 2016 as part of its Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change. The standard aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 million tonnes, which is equivalent to removing seven million gasoline cars from the road. The Clean Fuel Standard calls for three-quarters of those reductions to come from liquid fuels, including gasoline and diesel.
Woynillowicz says “The standard, which is literally not a tax, will not become a regulatory requirement for liquid fuels like gasoline and diesel until 2022. It will add a cent or two to the cost of a litre of gasoline in 2025. And it is not until 2030 that the policy could add about five cents to the price at the pump.”
Clean Energy Canada says it examined the impact of the Clean Fuel Standard, within the context of other policies, including regulations improving fuel efficiency of vehicles.
The energy think tank at Simon Fraser University discovered that the clean fuel standard will cost the average household about $5 per month in 2030. However, “that same household’s energy costs will have declined $22 by then, meaning they’re actually coming out ahead to the tune of $17 a month.”
And Woynillowicz adds energy-conscious households could net $82 in savings.
“While this isn’t the first time the Conservative Party has been found to misrepresent our work on the Clean Fuel Standard, we hope it will be the last,” said Woynillowicz. “The clean fuel standard is one of the biggest pollution-cutting policies in Canada, and eliminating it—as the Conservatives have said they would do—will create a massive gap in Canada’s climate efforts.”
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