Gas stations that don’t display Tory carbon tax sticker could be fined up to $10K

Ontario Environment Minister Rod Phillips and Ontario Energy Minister Greg Rickford apply a “gasoline transparency sticker” to a gas pump in Oakville, Ont. on April 8, 2019. Rickford Twitter Photo

By Allison Jones National Observer April 12 2019

Buried in Ontario’s budget bill are fines of up to $10,000 per day for gas station operators who don’t display government-mandated stickers about the price of the carbon tax.

The budget contains a new piece of legislation called the Federal Carbon Tax Transparency Act that would require gas stations to display the sticker on each pump. The sticker shows the federal carbon tax adding 4.4 cents per litre to the price of gas now, and rising to 11 cents a litre in 2022.

The legislation doesn’t require the stickers to provide information about the cost of climate change impacts, nor does it require the stickers to provide information about carbon rebates offered by the federal government as part of its plan.

The Ontario legislation lets the government send inspectors to see if gas stations are properly displaying the stickers and sets out penalties for non-compliance.

Individuals could be fined up to $500 each day, or up to $1,000 a day for subsequent offences. Corporations could be fined up to $5,000 a day, or up to $10,000 a day for subsequent offences.

Obstructing an inspector would carry a fine of at least $500 and up to $10,000.

“This is a new low, even for (Premier) Doug Ford,” NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns said in a statement. “It’s bad enough that he’s wasting public money on partisan promotion, but now he’s threatening private business owners with massive fines for failing to post (Progressive) Conservative party advertisement.”

Green party Leader Mike Schreiner said Ford is wasting public tax dollars and abusing legal tools to bolster his anti-carbon tax campaign.

“This has nothing to do with transparency and everything to do with helping his federal cousins win the election,” Schreiner said in a statement.

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