Some Conservatives are condemning a 'truck tax' that doesn't exist

Conservatives have never had a hard time finding actual things to condemn about Justin Trudeau and his government. So it's passing strange to see them put so much energy into condemning a policy the Liberals have neither implemented nor proposed.

What the Conservatives describe as a "truck tax" does not exist. No Liberal minister is known to have expressed an interest in implementing such a policy.

The source for the claim appears to be one of more than three dozen recommendations included in a recent report by the Net-Zero Advisory Body, an independent panel of experts created by the Liberal government's Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act.

The NZAB, whose members include environmental, business and public sector leaders, came into existence a year ago. It released a 28-page report in March that included its advice for the Liberal government's new emissions reductions plan.

One of those recommendations — intended to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission vehicles — calls on the federal government to "broaden Canada's existing Green Levy (Excise Tax) for Fuel Inefficient Vehicles to include additional [internal combustion engine] vehicle types, such as pickup trucks."

That suggestion didn't generate much interest when the NZAB report was released on March 21. But when Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault released his government's new climate plan on March 29, the NZAB's advice was included as an annex — alongside submissions from each of the provinces and territories, the Assembly of First Nations, the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and the Métis National Council.

That appears to have inspired the British Columbia director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation — an interest group that opposes tax increases and advocates for lower government spending — to write a column for the Toronto Sun that claimed the Liberals were "planning to hit Canadians with a big new tax on their trucks and sport utility vehicles."

The next day, the Conservative Party sent out a fundraising appeal to its members based on that column. Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe all tweeted their condemnation.

On Monday, the party repeated its call for donations: "Donate today to help strengthen our movement and defeat Trudeau's Truck Tax!"

Guilbeault has described the Conservative claims as "disinformation" and "divisive." 

"A recommendation by an independent body in a report is not government policy," he tweeted.

It would have been perfectly fair to ask Guilbeault whether he had any interest in pursuing the NZAB's recommendation. When that question was put to his office on Tuesday, the response did not suggest that a new "truck tax" is likely to be imposed any time soon.

"The government has no plans at all to act on that recommendation," Guilbeault said in a media statement.

Unless someone produces new evidence to the contrary, that seems fairly categorical.