Montreal, QC – The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on Premier François Legault to abolish Quebec’s carbon tax outright rather than studying a partial rebate scheme.

“The best way to save Quebecers money on the carbon tax is to scrap it like every other jurisdiction in Canada,” said Nicolas Gagnon, Quebec Director for the CTF. “Nobody trusts the government to take billions in carbon tax revenue and then return it to taxpayers.

“The only way to fix the carbon tax is to scrap it completely like the rest of the country.”

Quebec remains the only province in Canada still charging drivers a carbon tax, through its cap-and-trade system linked to California. The federal government eliminated its carbon tax on April 1, 2025, and British Columbia quickly followed suit.

Currently, Quebec’s carbon tax adds about 8.5 cents per litre of gasoline – roughly $5 extra every time a family fills up a 64-litre minivan tank.

That cost is projected to rise to 23 cents per litre by 2030.

Since it was introduced in 2013, the Quebec carbon tax has already cost taxpayers more than $9.5 billion, including $1.55 billion in 2023-24 alone.

Legault recently floated the idea of reimbursing Quebecers with a portion of the revenues collected from the carbon tax.

Former prime minister Justin Trudeau repeatedly claimed rebates gave most families more than they paid in carbon taxes. However, the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s analysis consistently showed the carbon tax was a net cost to taxpayers, even after accounting the rebates.

“If Legault wants to know whether rebates work to buy support for a carbon tax, he should ask Trudeau about the results of his attempt to do that,” said Gagnon. “Rebates are an ineffective Band-Aid for a failed carbon tax policy.

“Legault has only one real option: End the carbon tax now.”

About 56 % of Quebecer are opposed to a carbon tax, according to a Leger poll conducted on May 11, 2025. 

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