Mixed reaction at the pump to the Ford government's carbon stickers
Some people don’t mind them, but others say the message is unbalanced and a waste of money
There's mixed reaction to the Ford government's plan to put a sticker on every gas pump in the province that highlights the cost of the federal government's new carbon tax.
The sticker shows the tax starting at 4.4 cents per litre in 2019 and rising to 11.1 cents per litre in 2022.
"I'm personally happy to pay (higher gas taxes), because I think it's a good investment for our environment, so I don't really mind if there's a sticker or not," said one of several people surveyed by CBC London on Tuesday.
Another felt quite differently.
"They're incompetent…That's a waste of money to put all the stickers on the gas tanks."
"I think it's just going to infuriate people," said one woman. "There's plenty of things we should be angry at the provincial government for, instead. Like cuts to education and the changes to the sex curriculum. You know, where one-dollar beer is more of a priority than education."
"You might as well tell us how much we're getting rebated," added one man filling up at the pump. "In the end, we'll see if it balances out. I highly doubt it."
Stickers miss the full impact: analyst
Dan McTeague, an analyst with GasBuddy.com, told CBC Radio's Afternoon Drive the stickers "might be under-selling the message."
"I would say that (the stickers) don't emphasize the full total amount that the federal government is taking in (with the carbon tax)".
McTeague pointed out that there's a 2.5 cent per litre increase scheduled over the next three years that will result in gas prices higher by at least 12.5 cents in the end.
McTeague, a former Liberal MP, said the party first proposed a carbon tax in 2008 and he was never comfortable with it.
"I certainly wasn't in favour of the green shift, as it was proposed. I thought it was very punitive on the wrong people."
McTeague said that the federal tax hike on diesel fuel is even stiffer than the gasoline tax.
At 6.1 cents a litre, it affects everything from transportation to a wide range of goods and services, said McTeague.