Sheila Gunn-Reid exposes Canada’s April 1st carbon tax hike to $65/ton, inflating costs for fuel, groceries, and farming—Alberta families face $710 extra annually despite rebates. The federal budget ballooned from $470B in 2022 to $556B by 2027, adding $85B while debt hits $1T, with bureaucrat pay averaging $125K and MPs earning up to $237K. Gunn-Reid calls it a "Ponzi scheme" and urges taxpayers to demand accountability, linking policies like BC’s PST on used items to broader financial mismanagement. The tax’s hidden burden reveals Trudeau’s fiscal recklessness, deepening the divide between policymakers and struggling Canadians. [Automatically generated summary]
The federal budget is in and it is the exact opposite of what we saw here in Alberta and means nothing good for you and your family.
I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed and you're watching The Gunn Show.
April 1st, Canadians woke up to being the butt of the federal government's joke when the carbon tax jumped up to $65 a ton.
It will hit you not only at the pumps, but everywhere along the supply chain because the carbon tax will be added to everything that is made, grown, or moved.
So, well, really, literally everything.
And then the federal budget is out and it is a catastrophe.
Let me show you.
Franco Tirzano from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation compiled the numbers in an article for Sun Newspapers.
Look at this.
In 2022, spending was $470 billion in 2023.
It will be $491 billion.
Spending will climb to $509 billion in 2024, $523 billion in 2025, $538 billion in 2026, and $556 billion in 2027.
Does that look like saving money to you?
For politicians reading this in Ottawa, here's a clue to answer that question.
If you increase spending by $85 billion, you're saving money wrong.
Now, joining me today is my friend Chris Sims, the Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, to discuss not only what the hike in the carbon tax means for us here in Alberta, because we will be hit disproportionately hard by this bad federal government policy, as we tend to be with any bad federal government policy, but also what the budget means for you.
Joining me now is a good friend of the show and my good friend Chris Sims from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
And I wanted to have Chris on because, well, she's great and the time together just sort of flies by, hardly feels like work.
But federal budget just came out and it is a catastrophe and the carbon tax just went up.
I noticed it yesterday at the pumps.
I mean, I'm paying a buck 40 a liter here in Alberta where we make the fuel.
It happened immediately.
And yet the federal government, they've been telling us all along in their Ponzi scheme speak that they charge us more for stuff, but we'll get more money back.
None of it makes any sense.
Chris, break it down for us.
And that doesn't make sense because they're not telling the truth.
They're just straight up not telling you the truth.
So number one, it defies common sense to think that we could give the government money and have them give us more back without us paying for it.
The government does not have magical money trees or sources of income, okay?
This is not an investment.
They do not have a wealth generating machine under center block.
Okay, that's not where they're digging that big hole.
So it's just on the surface of it, they think we're stupid.
They think that we'll just believe that.
Number two, the parliamentary budget officer, okay, which is an arm's length independent auditor, basically.
All they do is go through the books and go through the numbers has said now in two reports, Sheila, that that's not true.
That you pay more than you get back, even with the rebates.
And the way they do that, of course, is they don't just look at the pump price, like you just mentioned.
I paid a buck 40 in Claire's home, which is typically some of the cheapest in all of Alberta.
So we already saw it.
So it's not just that pump price.
It's your pump price.
It's what the trucker's paying for the diesel.
It's what the locomotive is being filled with with diesel, which is about $2,400 extra in the carbon tax, by the way.
It's what the grocery store is paying to keep the place cold and hot using natural gas, all down the line.
And it's even the farmer who's using propane and natural gas to dry their product.
So that's why we have this massive layering effect.
And then, so the PBO apparently took elements like that into consideration and they talked about job losses, all that stuff.
And so in totality, here in Alberta, we're getting screwed the worst.
So on average, an Alberta family is going to pay out about $710 extra this year, even with the rebates factored in.
Now, why Trudeau and why Minister Guibot continue to say things like, you'll get more back, I don't know, because their own math is wrong.
So I think this is just pure politics and messaging.
They're hoping that if they repeat this big fib enough, that people will just go back to sleep and ignore it.
Yeah, if you make this claim as somebody who was starting a multi-level marketing company or an investment scheme, you would go to jail.
It's a Ponzi scheme as they lay it out.
You know, give us more and I'll give you more back.
Yeah.
It doesn't make any sense.
And you just mentioned the farmers there.
And I see the feds are patting themselves on the back saying, oh, but we exempted the farmers from the carbon tax.
On what, our fuel?
What about our inputs?
What about our fertilizer inputs?
Everything along the way is touched by this carbon tax.
Exactly.
Why?
Because right now our modern world runs on oil and gas.
You cannot get away from it, even if you tried.
So that is why we have abundant crops.
That's why we're able to do just-in-time delivery.
That's why most of us are able to heat or cool our homes with the push of a button.
You know, that's why.
And if you make that stuff more expensive through taxation, surprise, surprise, you make everything cost more.
Now, I did want to give us a little tiny bit of a win here because I think it's important to take a look at the light.
It sounds like we're going to get this exemption that we've been pushing for, the Taxpayers Federation here, I think, for about four years.
And that is farmers, like I just mentioned, use grain dryers, including propane and natural gas, typically, what I'm told.
I don't need to tell you about farming.
Okay, thank you.
And so we were pushing for an exemption and it's past the House of Commons.
It's in the Senate now.
And so we're hoping that it gets rubber stamped.
And so we know this isn't a win in the sense of if I'm driving my pickup truck or if the trucker is driving his big rig or Sally is filling up her minivan, you're all still paying the carbon tax.
But this is one small win where we're going to get those farmers exempted for drying their grain from the carbon tax.
So we'll take a win where we can.
So there will be some slight relief there, but we want the entire thing scrapped because this is just a massive tax grab and it does not help the environment.
I have to pound this home because I was in British Columbia for much of my adult life.
They've had the highest carbon taxes there since 2008.
And guess what?
Emissions keep on going up.
Why?
Because people need to heat their homes, they need to eat, and they need to drive to work.
They don't have an affordable, alternative, abundant energy source they can switch to.
And so it's not helping the environment.
All it is is making us poorer.
And I got to stress.
So wonky, smart people, I mean that truthfully, really smart people will say things like, the price on carbon is now $65 per ton.
Nobody knows what the hell that means.
Like, honey, did you pick up a ton of carbon on the way home?
Like, nobody, nobody knows.
But if you tell them that it's 14 cents a liter of gas and 17 cents a liter of diesel, and if you do the quick math, that's 15 bucks for your average pickup truck, like a gas, like a 1500.
If you're driving like a heavier duty one, like if you're hauling cattle or something or towing something and you've got one of those four super duty diesels, that's $30 extra, Sheila, every time you're filling up.
Like it's a mind-boggling amount of money.
Yeah.
And for a lot of guys, you know, my husband's in the oil patch.
He does drive the big one ton.
He has to.
And, you know, sometimes he's got a five, six hour commute to work.
Yeah.
And this is, this just eats up a family's bottom line.
And, you know, I'm so glad that the CTF pushed really hard to get that exemption for grain drying because cereal crop farmers are price takers.
They're not price setters.
So this is not even something that you could pass along to the consumer the way you could at a greenhouse level or some of the other produces, which actually increases food inflation.
If you're worried about that sort of thing, I am.
I'm not so sure the liberals are.
But yeah, I mean, there's no possible way for a grain farmer, a cereal crop farmer to pass that along to the consumer.
They just have to take the global market price and their product.
And if their inputs are higher, that's just tough on them.
See, again, this goes back to the term punishment.
And I use that correctly because the very liberals who crafted the mandatory minimum federal carbon tax, the Trudeau carbon tax, describe the carbon tax as a punishment for the poor behavior of using fossil fuels in their language.
And so this is how they see it.
It's an ideological thing.
This is not about saving the environment.
This is just about punishing people for using oil and gas.
And what really bothers me is that this is a severe punishment because people can't switch.
There isn't anywhere for them to go.
You've basically, in a fair fight, if you've challenged someone to a fight, a physical confrontation, and they have agreed and consented, if you've got them in the corner and their hands are up like this, it's unethical to continue hitting them.
But that's exactly what the federal government is doing here because the average person, average person, cannot find that alternative, affordable, abundant energy source.
And so, yeah, this is just a punishment.
Yeah, it is a punishment, particularly on the poor.
If you have a family minivan that's 10 years old, you need that vehicle to get to work, to get your kids wherever they need to be.
You just can't walk into the dealership and buy a Tesla because Justin Trudeau wants you to go electric.
No, no, they just don't have the money for that.
You know, I think it boils down to, Sheila.
In many cases, a lot of these folks making these decisions are multi-generational privileged people.
And I don't like using that term because it's used as a wedge quite often, but I think it is an honest lack of understanding.
They don't understand what it is to be working class.
They don't know what it's like to live rurally.
They don't know what it's like, you know, for like your husband having that major commute.
For them, they've perhaps lived just this kind of enclosed urban environment that's typically very highly paying and very job secure.
They don't understand what it's like to have that older minivan or to have like that Dodge Ram pickup where it costs you 15 bucks extra to fill up now just in the carbon tax.
For $15, I can get a roast chicken and a jug of milk.
Like that's food off of my family table every single week.
And then if you add that and add that and add that to things like trucking, so that big rig truck driver filling up two of those average size cylinders, not even the big ones, that's like almost $160 extra just in the diesel carbon tax.
And then the locomotives, I sat there and nerded out and figured out what the capacity was on those fuel tanks on the locomotives in Canada.
And on average, it's about $2,400 extra.
And there's no exemption.
And so, this is, I think we've got a big disconnect between the folks who are making these laws, creating these punishments, and the rest of us who are paying for them.
Yeah, there's an underlying sense of classism going on, you know, these things do hit the people who make and grow things and build things a lot harder than it does the people whose commute involves coming down out of their high rise and stepping onto a C-train.
LRT.
Yeah, exactly.
It's a big disconnect.
And I must say, this is where I really want to hammer this home because this isn't even just you and I talking about it or the taxpayers federation or a rebel, you know, taking a really good stand on something.
This is the parliamentary budget officer's own language as well, because they did more of a deep dive into the second carbon tax, which is supposed to be hitting us sometime this summer.
We're guessing it's going to be around 10 cents or so per liter of gasoline and diesel.
It's extra.
It's a government fuel regulation.
And even their own language, to paraphrase, said that this will disproportionately affect the poor, the single mothers, those who are working paycheck to paycheck.
Now, to you and I, that's probably obvious, but I think it's important to point out that the parliamentary budget officer's own report to parliament.
So he's talking to Trudeau.
That office is talking to the PMO.
They know.
They know.
And they're not scrapping it.
So this is where I think we're now at a bit of an impasse where we're telling them this is how much it's costing.
We're telling them it's not helping the environment.
We're telling them to scrap it.
And they've really kind of dug their heels in on this.
I am taking a bit of hope at the grain dryer thing.
I think that's a bit of a gap in the fence.
And if we all push at once, we might have a chance of getting rid of this thing.
You know, we need the greenhouse guys to step up and fight.
It's just fascinating to see how disconnected the federal government is from real people and actually can see that in the budget.
Yeah.
The latest federal budget.
Why don't you give us the cold notes version of, I guess, just how bad this is going to be for regular Canadians?
It's awful.
My friend Franco Terrazano, our federal director, he was in the lockup.
You can go to our website, taxpayer.com, for free and take a look at all of our news releases and our articles there.
Top line, they're spending an extra $85 billion between 2022 and 2027.
That's increased spending.
A stat I saw, I think this is accurate.
The Trudeau government itself as an administration has added something like 30,000 people to the ranks of the federal bureaucrats.
And so again, $85 billion increase in spending over the next five years.
It's just mind-blowing.
We don't have the money for this.
They need to be balancing the budget.
And they don't even seem to understand that they need to balance the budget.
It's not like they're like, okay, in two years' time, we're going to be able to come out of COVID and blah, blah, blah, and we'll eventually get there.
No, that's not even on the horizon anymore.
They're not talking about balancing the budget anymore.
And the reason why this is so alarming, it isn't just because it defies common sense, because, you know, most households, a lot of them are failing right now because they're underwater, but most of them try to balance their budget or they know that it's something they ought to try to do if they can.
This isn't even connecting on this level anymore at the federal government level.
And the reason why that's important is one, it increases the debt.
Okay, so we're more than a trillion dollars in debt right now.
That means that our interest payments, I think right now, as a line item, I think the interest payments are either about or a little bit more than our spending at the Department of National Defense.
Like it's a crazy amount of money.
A trillion dollars is what we are in debt.
If you started counting right now, Sheila, it would take you 30,000 years to count to 1 trillion.
That's how much debt we're in.
And so it causes this interest payment that we all need to pay for as taxpayers.
And what it also does is it also encourages the central bank, Bank of Canada, to print up more money, right?
Which is then used to buy government bonds.
This is the connection between deficit spending and money printing and interest rates.
And so this was all very carefully explained by very smart economists to Trudeau and his team years ago.
And he wants to be forgiven for not thinking about monetary policy.
But unfortunately, we're the ones, taxpayers, average working people, people on fixed income, we're the ones that are going to bear the brunt of this.
This is totally fiscally irresponsible.
We don't care what party it is.
If the conservatives were pulling this nonsense, we would be chewing their leg off too.
This is completely irresponsible and we're going to all have to pay for it.
Our main concern overarching is that there just isn't even the awareness.
Like if they were saying things like, we're going to balance it or we're working hard or something like that, we're going to reduce it, then we could at least take some hope that they're going to wise up and sober up and like put the keg down.
That's not even in the language, unfortunately.
So I was looking at Franco's Twitter account and he notes that taxpayers paid 31% more for bureaucracy over two years.
So this is not over like a 10-year time span where you would expect that sort of rapid rise, but just two years.
The average compensation for a government bureaucrat is $125,300 all in.
So that includes their out-of-control benefits.
And then we've got a government union that demands even more, could cost the taxpayer up to $16 billion over the course of just two years, while the people who pay these salaries are just struggling to get by.
Yeah, this is really the tale of two pandemics, as Franco has put it many times and very well.
I can't stand it when politicians and bureaucrats will say something to the effect of, well, we're all in the same boat.
No, no, we're not.
We're all in the same storm, but those folks in the bureaucracy and in government jobs are typically in big taxpayer-funded yachts, and the rest of us are kind of treading water.
Yeah, you're hanging on to the garbage in the ocean that they're throwing overboard.
Plots them and debts them.
She won't even scooch over so we can float on the door with her.
Yeah, it's a problem.
And so this is where it gets really frustrating because we're paying their salaries and they just keep on demanding more.
And the reason why those costs went up, because apparently over the last six years or so, Prime Minister Trudeau has added about 30,000 people to the payroll.
Like it's an astonishing number.
That's the population of Courtney in Vancouver Island.
Imagine all of those people now being added to the ranks of the so-called public service.
And we're all paying for it.
And unfortunately, it's going to get worse.
A lot of the government employee unions are demanding crazy high salary and wage increases.
In some cases, 14% per year for three years.
Like we had to check that six times because we thought it was a typo.
No, no.
There are, in some cases, some government unions demanding a more than 40% pay increase over the next three years, or they're threatening to strike.
So it's going to get worse before it gets better.
I think my best recommendation would be to keep hammering your MP, keep emailing your MP, send your MP your heating bill, your grocery bill, what your truck payment costs, and say that you expect them to rein in this spending.
And that also starts with their pay raises, by the way.
Members of parliament took their fourth pay raise during this last four years while the rest of us are getting pay cuts or losing our businesses.
And it's an outrageous amount of money.
They were already making Sheila $189,000 per year as a backbencher.
That's just backbencher.
Ministers make more than $200,000.
I think it's $237,000.
And keep in mind, for folks who haven't worked on the Hill, it's easy to forget where their expenses go.
Their housing's paid for, their hydro bill is paid for, their food is paid for.
They have hot meals three times a day right there in the lobby of the House of Commons.
Like they want for really nothing when you're a member of parliament and they're taking their fourth pay raised.
It's just gross.
It's outrageous.
Now, you know, it's it is outrageous when you put it that way that they're taking their fourth pay raise.
Petitions On Stage Together00:03:36
Yeah.
Well, people are cutting back to get by because these same people keep hammering them with taxes.
Now, you are part of the Alberta Proud touring panel, which I will be a part of on April 20th.
Tell us a little bit about that.
I'm super stoked for this.
It's Can't Stop Alberta.
The great people behind Alberta Proud and the Alberta Institute are putting this on.
I've already done two shows or chats in Calgary.
It was amazing.
They packed the house.
There was around 100 people there, full house.
And we talk about things like, well, from the taxpayers' perspective, like lower taxes, less waste, accountable government, the carbon tax.
I can break down free what just transition will cost you.
And what I love about it is how to get out there and fight.
Because if we have 100 people coming to watch us, we know they're already in the tent, right?
We know that they're ready to fight.
And what I tell them is think of 10 people in your social circle who didn't come with you here tonight and just like red pill them.
Tell them how much they're spending.
And so I think it's really important to get all of these issues understood before the May election.
Yeah, and we have to arm our army of pro-freedom evangelists with really good, concise arguments to take out with them into the world because the other side likes to confuse things with unnecessary jargon, right?
Like they say a price on carbon.
I'm like, I mean, a tax, a tax on life.
You know, you have to sort of cut down through the jargon and break it down into real tangible things.
And I hope that, well, I know you're doing that and I hope I can do a little bit of that while I'm on the panel.
We're going to be on stage together.
I think we need to point this out.
Yeah.
We're going to be on stage together so people won't confuse us for being the same person all the time.
It happens at least like once or twice a month, which is a great compliment, but it's like, no, different person.
But no, this is going to be great.
I'm not sure what your focus is on.
Mine is usually carbon tax and just transition.
And this is the one in Red Deer, right?
Yes.
Oh, we're going to have a hoot.
So come to Red Deer and you can watch us talk about freedom and low taxes.
Exactly.
Now, before I let you go, Chris, I want you to let people know how they can get involved with the Taxpayers Federation in the fight for smaller, more accountable government.
Thank you.
So if you go to taxpayer.com, click on the petitions tab.
We've got something for everybody there.
That's what I love about the petitions that we have.
You know, if you want to get rid of the PST on used items at thrift shops in BC, we've got a petition for that.
If you want to stop funding the media, we've got a petition for that.
If you want to scrap the gun grab, same thing.
So just sign up for one of those petitions.
And that does two things.
One, it puts pressure on politicians.
So we actually make change.
And two, you're signed up to our standing army.
And that way, when it's time to do a critical mass blast of email on one person's email address and make it crash for the day, which is exactly what happens, you'll be the one helping.
So just go to taxpayer.com and sign up on petitions that tickle your fancy, and then you'll be joining our army.
That's wonderful.
Chris, thanks so much for the interview today.
You're a fan favorite and you're just a personal favorite too.
So we'll have back on again very soon.
And I can't wait to see you on the 20th.
Yeah, I'll see you there.
I'm bringing you this shirt.
Love it.
Okay, see you later, buddy.
Well, friends, we've come to the portion of the show where we invite your viewer feedback on like the mainstream media.
And I know I say this every single week, but I actually care about what you think about the work that we're doing here at Rebel News.
Ken's Appreciation00:02:50
And so this is why I give out my email address right now.
It's Sheila at RebelNews.com.
If you have a question, a comment, a criticism, send it to me.
It might just get read on air.
And today's viewer feedback is indeed a criticism, but I, like I said, I welcome it.
I want to know what you think.
This comes from Ken, who writes to me, Hello, Sheila.
I want to begin by saying that you are great and I appreciate you as a journalist so much.
I feel like this is a criticism being stuffed into a compliment sandwich.
It's good management style, by the way.
Anyways, let's keep going.
I especially love that you are open about your faith in our great God.
I am a born-again evangelical missionary pastor in Nipawan, Saskatchewan.
That's so fun to say.
My wife and I have been in ministry for over 35 years and I have had to learn a lot the hard way.
Here is why I'm getting in touch with you.
I hope that you can take some constructive criticism as a believer.
I see that at times you correct others and that is needed.
I'm not trying to come across as above anyone.
In fact, humility is the only way to succeed in his kingdom.
At times, even while giving glory to God, you let cuss words fly.
It's true, I do.
It's true.
I struggle with it.
I do my best.
I try not to use the Lord's name in vain.
That was something that was very offensive to my mom.
But like all of us, I'm a deeply flawed individual and I am not always the best at times.
Ken goes on.
There I said it.
This subtracts so much credibility to us who believe and stand for the Lord.
As I have said, I appreciate so much when I hear your faith come out, even with tears at times that you are unashamed of him.
Please hear me because so many who need him hear you too.
They say that free advice is worth what you pay for it.
The ball is in your court in his wonderful care.
Sincerely, Ken Matthews.
Ken, I appreciate you and your concern about my credibility and me swearing.
And I realize I do.
I do sometimes.
And I don't mean to.
I try really hard to be careful about the language that I use on air and be calculated in the words that I use.
But it is, it is a character flaw that I will admit to.
And I struggle with it every day.
And I'm doing my best to rein in the mouth.
So yeah, I don't mean to offend anybody.
And I'm sorry if I did.
And I appreciate your care and concern for me.
And I wish you and your wife the very best in your ministry.
Literally doing the Lord's work.
Well, everybody, that's the show for tonight.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
I'll see everybody back here in the same time in the same place next week.