‘What's really disturbing here is the intention of government and the actual outcome'

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One Carleton County trucking company will pay more than $1-million extra a year if a carbon tax is implemented at its highest reported value.

President of Ayr Motor Express Inc. Joe Keenan said if the Liberal government adds seven cents a litre to the price of diesel, the company will have to squeeze out an additional $1.3 million. If a carbon tax is implemented at the lowest reported rate of 2.4-cents a litre, the "shocking figure" will be $450,000.

Keenan said the tax will put a strain on the industry.

"There's transport companies that are closing or are scaling way back every week, and it's very serious," he said. "In the truck industry fuel is like oxygen – you have to have it to function. Fuel costs ... are already close to 50 per cent over the last year."

New Brunswick Finance Minister Victor Boudreau said if the carbon tax is implemented, it will serve two purposes. It will help bridge the gap caused by the proposed corporate and personal income tax cuts and support the Climate Change Secretariats' Climate Change Action Plan, which focusses on environmental initiatives.

But, Keenan said, Ayr is already doing its share to prevent harmful emissions from being released into the air, so the carbon tax will result in paying twice for the same outcome.

Ayr human resource manager Ralph Boyd said the company has purchased retrofitted engines, which proves officials agree there needs to be environmental initiatives.

But, he added, "the tax will probably just go into the general revenue coffer," just like the tax implemented by the former Frank McKenna government for road maintenance.

"Six months after the fund was developed, all of those funds were rolled into general revenue, and, at the end of the day, we didn't get the improvements to highways that we should have had under his administration, in fact they came several administrations after.

"What's really disturbing here is the intention of government and the actual outcome. Will the revenue go to the environment, to highways, schools, hospitals? That's what taxpayers need to ask themselves."

Besides the road maintenance fund, Boyd said, people need to look at recycling as an example. Consumers pay a 10-cent bottle deposit, and, after returning the bottle, "they receive five-cents per recyclable, but," he asked, "where does the other five cents go?"

"Does it really go to help the environment?"

Boyd said the carbon-tax discussion seems to be having a snowball effect.

B.C. started it; N.B. is proposing it; Quebec is talking about it; and the Canadian government may add an additional carbon tax at the federal level. Other areas of the country may be able to handle the "tax burden," he added, but changes could make New Brunswick "less attractive" to some industries.

"You'll hear the province of New Brunswick saying that it's trying to create an environment that will grow the economy, attract people to come here, but they have to look at the businesses that are already here."

Although they would hate to leave, he noted, Ayr is extremely mobile and could be based anywhere in North America.

"We would hope that our governments would think this through before they implement change." he added. "Governments have to be very, very careful when they proceed down these roads."

Bob Smalley, past-president of the New Brunswick Senior Citizens Federation, agrees government should take care to make sure the carbon tax isn't "just another tax grab."

Smalley said he hasn't heard anything about the Climate Change Action Plan and questions if the government entity would use the carbon tax revenue to set up more windmills or investigate solar options.

"They aren't very specific as to what the project is; how they're going to collect the money and then ... it'll wind up in general revenue. And I don't think there's been enough thought put into it yet on how they're going to support seniors.

"We just don't understand why we would pay a carbon tax and what they're going to be doing ... they're not going to be building a big umbrella over us to change our climate. I don't like this idea.

"I'd have to know an awful lot more about that before I could see any benefit certainly to seniors. I'm afraid the seniors would be passed on into another generation of life before there's any real benefit."

President of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour (NBFL) Michel Boudreau is echoing the same concerns as Smalley and Ayr officials.

"It seems that tax is little more than a Robin Hood tax grab in reverse: it would take money from low and middle-income New Brunswickers to fund income tax cuts that will primarily benefit big businesses and affluent families.

"It is estimated that the total direct and indirect costs from a $30 per ton carbon tax would add up to extra costs of $663 per year for an average New Brunswick household," he added. "This is equivalent to 1.2 per cent of average annual income. How can New Brunswick fund more environmental infrastructure and green jobs investments with lower revenues and less fiscal capacity?"

With the trucking industry being a significant employer in Carleton County – only third after forestry and farming – the president of Ayr is concerned about the negative effects an added cost will have on the area.

"In Carleton County there's more trucks per capita than anywhere in Canada, so what do you think that will do to the major employer in Carleton County?" Keenan asked. "What effect will that have on Carleton County? It won't be positive, I can tell you that."

Keenan said Ayr would be open to using an alternative fuel source, which doesn't give off greenhouse gas emissions, "if it was available and it was practical."