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In a cynical attempt to buy votes, the Liberals then proclaim, like a TV pitchman, “Wait, there’s more.” The “average” family will not get its $400 back but actually $600! Turns out that 70 per cent of people will get more back than they’re taxed, which prompted Goodale to call this a “new federal payment going to Saskatchewan.”

It caused former Premier Brad Wall to observe that “usually when someone tells you to send in money but you’ll get more back in return, it’s a Nigerian prince.”

Because there’s no such thing as magical expanding money, the extra money will come from somewhere; most likely from businesses that will be refunded less or none of what they pay in. And, because rebates are based on family income — the higher your income the less you will get back. How income redistribution reduces CO2 has also not been explained.

One frustrated caller on my radio show described the prime minister and his carbon tax acolytes as “the Clown Prince of Pot and his Bumbling Band of Bozos.” It’s hard not to agree.

The Trudeau carbon tax is $20 per tonne of CO2, rising to $50 per tonne in three years. If the goal of such a tax is to incentivize or discourage behaviour, climate economists say these tax levels are far too low. Just last week, the ever-apocalyptic Intergovernmental Panel in Climate Change — the United Nations organization which keeps moving the yardsticks on climate alarmism — was mooting carbon taxes between $135 and $5,500 per tonne of carbon dioxide.