Montreal, QC – The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the candidates in the Coalition Avenir Québec leadership race to go beyond promising to scrap the carbon tax for farmers and end it for all Quebecers.

“Both leadership contenders are right to acknowledge that the carbon tax is hurting Quebec farmers,” said Nicolas Gagnon, Quebec Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “But if the carbon tax is too costly for farmers, it is also too costly for families and businesses across Quebec.

“The next premier of Quebec has a clear opportunity to lower costs for everyone by scrapping the carbon tax for every Quebecer once and for all.”

The two candidates in the Coalition Avenir Québec leadership race, Bernard Drainville and Christine Fréchette, have both recently promised to fully and permanently reimburse Quebec farmers for the carbon tax costs they pay through the province’s cap-and-trade carbon tax system.

The winner of the leadership race will replace François Legault as Quebec’s next premier on April 12.

Quebec’s carbon tax, which is linked to a cap-and-trade market with California, has imposed significant costs on Quebec’s agricultural sector. Estimates suggest carbon pricing has cost Quebec farmers nearly $550 million since 2015 through higher fuel, transportation and production costs.

Quebecers are now the only Canadians still paying a carbon tax on gasoline and other fuels after the federal government abolished its consumer carbon tax on April 1, 2025. Quebec’s carbon tax currently adds about nine cents per litre to the price of gasoline.

“Helping farmers is a step in the right direction, but Quebecers in every region are dealing with higher costs,” said Gagnon. “The next premier should go further and eliminate the carbon tax for everyone.”

“Scrapping the carbon tax would provide immediate relief at the gas pump and help lower costs for every Quebecer,” said Gagnon.

According to the latest Leger poll, 56 per cent of Quebecers oppose the carbon tax.