Quebec Approves Carbon Tax on Fuels to Cut Greenhouse Gases
Quebec will become the first Canadian province to impose a carbon tax on energy producers. Bloomberg reports:
The provincial cabinet approved the tax in Quebec City yesterday, according to a statement on the Natural Resources Ministry Web site. Refiners including Valero Energy Corp.'s Ultramar unit and Royal Dutch Shell Plc's Canadian unit will start paying a tax of 0.8 cent a liter on gasoline and 0.9 cent on diesel on Oct. 1. Power producers such as state-owned Hydro- Quebec and gas companies will also be taxed.
"Everyone is talking about the environment; everyone wants to play their part," Natural Resources Minister Claude Bechard told reporters in Quebec City yesterday. "Well, the oil companies too have to play their part."
The province will direct proceeds from the tax to a "green fund" that will invest in commuter rail networks and other forms of mass transit.
Bechard said he expects that the companies will absorb the higher costs, though he "can't guarantee" that producers and refiners won't pass them on to consumers. The tax is based on the "polluter pays" principle. "That is not negotiable," the minister said.
Charles Komanoff of the Carbon Tax Center (and Streetsblog), while hailing the tax as a positive step, notes that it's extremely small, equating to little more than 1% of the tax level that CTC proposes the U.S. phase in over a ten-year period.
Photo: _EM/Flickr
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog USA
Friday’s Headlines Got Served
Another day, another GOP lawsuit trying to overturn a Biden administration climate change rule.
Disabled People Are Dying in America’s Crosswalks — But We’re Not Counting Them
The data on traffic fatalities and injuries doesn’t account for their needs or even count them. Better data would enable better solutions.
LA: Automated Enforcement Coming Soon to a Bus Lane Near You
Metro is already installing on-bus cameras. Soon comes testing, outreach, then warning tickets. Wilshire/5th/6th and La Brea will be the first bus routes in the bus lane enforcement program.
Talking Headways Podcast: Charging Up Transportation
This week, we talk to the great Gabe Klein, executive director of President Biden's Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (and a former Streetsblog board member), about curbside electrification.
Why Does the Vision Zero Movement Stop At the Edge of the Road?
U.S. car crash deaths are nearly 10 percent higher if you count collisions that happen just outside the right of way. So why don't off-road deaths get more air time among advocates?
