Canadians’ wallets have been hit hard recently by inflation. Prices have gone up at the grocery store, gas station, and pretty much everywhere else consumers shop. But don’t expect any sympathy from Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. Her recent remarks on the situation only rub salt in the wound.
Here’s the background to Freeland’s latest gaffe. On July 1, the Trudeau Liberals plowed ahead with their plans to increase the federal carbon tax yet again. This annual increase to what’s basically a “tax on everything” has sadly become a common occurrence.
But this year the feds decided to up the ante by adding an entirely new way to ding consumers, with a new second carbon tax called the Clean Fuel Regulations.
This has been estimated to increase the price of gas by another 5 cents or so, depending on region, in addition to the amount the carbon tax is increasing gas. It also came into effect in July.
While there have been many critics of these taxes, a new group of high-profile ones recently emerged: the premiers of the four Atlantic provinces. They recently launched a campaign calling on Atlantic residents to lobby their federal MPs—who are mostly Liberals—to reconsider implementing the new tax.
Freeland, who is also the finance minister, was recently asked by reporters about this Atlantic opposition.
This was her alarming answer: “I am right now an MP for downtown Toronto, and a fact that still shocks my dad is that I don’t actually own a car. … I’m like 300 metres from the nearest subway. I walk, I take the subway. I make my kids walk and ride their bikes and take the subway. It’s actually healthier for our family.”
What a bizarre response when asked about the legitimate concerns of people who live nowhere near a subway station and have no choice but to drive and be hit with the Trudeau government’s carbon taxes.
Freeland acknowledged this in part, adding: “I understand that there are communities in P.E.I. and across Atlantic Canada where you need to drive, so I understand that our policies need to respect that, and I really believe they do.”
It’s unclear though how an ever-increasing series of policies designed to make driving less affordable are respectful of people who don’t live within a hop, skip, and a jump from a subway. But the insult doesn’t end there.
There was clearly a hint of virtue signalling going on, with Freeland implying she’s making the noble choice by biking around Toronto. The problem is she wasn’t telling the full truth.
While Freeland may not personally own a car and while her kids no doubt do walk a lot, the deputy PM neglected to mention that she actually has a chauffeur. She doesn’t pay for it though. The driver and vehicle are both paid for by the taxpayer.
The chauffeur is used predominantly when she’s in Ottawa and cities she’s visiting for work, but disclosure documents sourced by Blacklock’s Reporter reveal she’s also been chauffeured around Toronto. They reveal the chauffeur’s expenses included 28 days of meals in Toronto.
It’s the classic case of the climate activist politician having a greater carbon footprint than the rest of us and expensing it to the taxpayers.
Freeland then offered this strange parting comment in response to a question about whether rising taxes could reduce tourism to Atlantic Canada: “People will not want to visit our country if they do not see that we are energetically embracing the green transition.”
It’s hard to believe the above is really a thing. Does anyone seriously make vacation plans based on how frenzied a country’s climate change policies are? What sort of elite makes their travel plans based on reviewing a country’s carbon tax?
Last November, Freeland was criticized for similar out-of-touch comments. When asked about Canadians struggling with affordability issues, she tried to paint herself as similarly struggling, by explaining that she’d recently cancelled her kids’ Disney+ subscription to bring the bills down.
It was a “let them eat cake” moment for families who make far less than Freeland and have far more to worry about than dealing with one TV subscription too many.
The government’s carbon tax policies are simply unfair to regular folks. But Freeland here illustrates why the government just doesn’t get it.
