Liberals dismiss accusations they intend to slap a green tax on pickup trucks

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said the Conservatives are lying about a secret government plan to add a green tax to pickup trucks.

There have been several tweets from Tory MPs, the Conservative party and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney in recent days insisting the government is about to extend a federal green levy to pickups.

"This so-called fee on trucks doesn't exist," Guilbeault said Wednesday, in a tweet responding to Conservative MP and leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre.

"It's fear mongering, plain and simple."

Poilievre said in his tweet that the government is going to "slap thousands in new taxes on anyone who buys a truck." He encouraged supporters to join his campaign to "axe the truck tax."

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney followed suit Thursday tweeting that "the Liberal-NDP coalition is planning a punishing tax on working people for buying pickup trucks."

The federal Conservative party as a whole joined in with multiple tweets Thursday and Friday, asking if Canadians could "afford a $4,000 tax on your truck or SUV?"

The green levy being referred to already affects SUVs. In 2007 the Conservative government under prime minister Stephen Harper introduced what they called a "green levy for gas guzzlers" as part of a number of offerings for "ensuring a cleaner, healthier environment."

A rebate for more fuel-efficient vehicles brought in at the same time only lasted two years, but the green levy is still in effect.

It adds between $1,000 to $4,000 to cars, SUVs and vans with higher than average fuel consumption when they are purchased or imported into Canada. There are currently 60 models tagged with the levy.

The vast majority are high-end luxury cars from brands like Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce and Bentley, which all have starting prices over $200,000, or big SUVs like the Dodge Durango and the Toyota Sequoia.

In their 2007 budget, the Conservatives predicted the levy would bring in $215 million in the first two years but has not come anywhere close to that, averaging about $15 million a year in revenues. Over 14 years, the total revenue from the green levy is $220 million, including less than $4 million in 2020-21.

It did not apply to pickups in 2007, and has not for the 15 years it has existed.

Guilbeault said the Liberals are not proposing to extend it to trucks regardless of the Conservative accusations.