At a September campaign event in Mississauga, Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer said that municipalities would be “better off” without a carbon tax. But is that the case?

If elected, Scheer has promised to drop the federal carbon tax and at the Mississauga event he said that carbon pricing “raises the costs for municipalities” and funds that flow from the federal government for green initiatives are meant to “offset higher costs” incurred on fuel.

Whether a carbon tax is good for municipalities could boil down to economic and environmental questions. Environmentally, carbon pricing has helped lower greenhouse gas emissions while growing the economy in British Columbia and the United Kingdom.

Initiatives to lower greenhouse gases might help Mississauga and Brampton by reducing the effects of climate change, but whether municipalities will pay more for carbon pricing in the short-term is more complicated.

For Mississauga, the federal carbon price has raised the costs of fuel. According to the city’s Chief Financial Officer Gary Kent, Mississauga has budgeted for $1.2 million in increased costs on fuel for its buses and utilities because of the carbon tax.

While the carbon tax increases fuel costs, it also provides funding for energy saving and energy efficiency projects for municipalities, schools and hospitals in Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. For 2019-2020, the federal government has set aside $41 million for retrofit projects for municipalities, post-secondary and public schools as well as hospitals in Ontario.

Weighing the question of their cities were "better off” without a carbon tax, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said he supports a price on carbon and Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie pointed to previously funded projects that were cut after Ontario’s cap-and-trade was cancelled by the Ford government.

Responding to Scheer’s comment, Brown said “I'm on the record supporting carbon-pricing. We have to do our part on the environment and combating climate change.”

He added that Brampton “has been very clear that you can pursue economic development, while being good environmental stewards at the same time.”

Responding to Scheer’s comment, Crombie said the city created its climate action plan because of the need to “take action” on the environment.