Liberals rebrand carbon-price rebates, amount to rise by up to 17 per cent in April

OTTAWA — The Liberal government unveiled a rebrand of the federal carbon price rebate Wednesday as it announced the updated sums Canadian households are expected to get after the price itself goes up in April.

A gaggle of ministers promoted the rebates as affordability measures on Parliament Hill, citing data that show 80 per cent of families will get more from the rebates than they pay in carbon pricing.

In a tacit acknowledgment that Canadians don’t seem to be aware the rebates even exist, ministers said they will now go by a new name: the “Canada Carbon Rebate,” rather than the “Climate Action Incentive.”

Canadian families will get between $760 and $2,160 in carbon price rebates this year depending on where they live. Rebates are set by province based on total fossil fuel use in each jurisdiction.

Rural residents get 20 per cent more in acknowledgment of the longer distances they must drive. The rural top-up used to be 10 per cent.

The increased rebates coincide with the carbon price itself being hiked, as scheduled, another $15 per tonne.

The price increase will add another 3.3 cents to a litre of gasoline and about 2.9 cents to a cubic metre of natural gas.

Most families will see a bigger rebate as a result — $64 more every three months in Alberta, and $36 more in Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

But the move to lift carbon pricing from heating oil for three years, along with overpayments last year, means people in all Atlantic provinces except New Brunswick will see a decline in how much they get.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has focused much of his energy on his “axe the tax” campaign in recent months, capitalizing on what many saw as a misstep by the Liberals to create the heating oil carve-out.

He promises to remove carbon pricing if the Conservatives form the next government.

Rural Economic Development Minister Gudie Hutchings chided Poilievre on Wednesday for choosing “catchy slogans” over climate-change solutions.

Poilievre says carbon pricing makes life less affordable, while the Liberals insist their rebate program means that is not true.

James McCarten, The Canadian Press