TORONTO – Ontario’s Green party is promising to bring in a carbon tax and freeze public sector wages to balance the budget by 2015.
The party is the first to unveil its platform ahead of the fall election.
Leader Mike Schreiner says he’s confident voters will go for the tax when they go to the polls Oct. 6 even though a similar plan lost the federal Liberals an election when it was proposed by then-Leader Stephane Dion.
He says people voted for the tax in B.C., re-elected the government that brought it in, and then gave the tax a 65 per cent approval rating.
The Greens’ carbon tax would be based on the B.C. model, and involves a $10 tax per tonne of carbon emitted, which amounts to an extra 2.4 cents a litre to the price of gasoline.
Schreiner says the plan would be revenue neutral with all profits going toward lower personal income taxes as well as tax credits to businesses and individuals.
The Greens also want to freeze public sector wages and identify cost savings of one per cent in each ministry by eliminating inefficient or outdated programs.
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