The Canadian Trucking Alliance applauds Prime Minister Mark Carney’s announcement on March 14, 2025 that the federal government will cancel the carbon tax.
In his first action after being sworn in, Carney’s announced the removal the tax for consumers, effective April 1, through what’s known as an order-in-council.
CTA has been calling on the federal government to scrap the tax for years and recently raised the volume in asking for removal of the tax as a measure to provide relief to the trucking industry grappling with skyrocketing costs, an already depressed freight market and the spectre of tariffs disrupting the supply chain.
While the trucking industry has always been committed to doing its part to reduce the sector’s carbon footprint, CTA has objected to the carbon tax because no carbon-free, alternative to the diesel engine exists in the heavy-duty trucking sector, thereby nullifying any policy purpose for the tax.
“The carbon tax on diesel fuel is currently having zero impact on the environment and is only serving to needlessly drive up costs for every good purchased by Canadian families and businesses,” says CTA president Stephen Laskowski.
CTA estimates the carbon tax translates into extra fuel costs for a long-haul truck operator of between $15,000 – $20,000 per year, per truck. This is hurting small, mid-size and large fleets alike. A small business owner with 5 trucks is seeing between $75,000 and $100,000 in extra costs associated with the carbon tax.
Relatedly, CTA is also asking Ottawa to remove or reduce the federal excise tax on diesel to support struggling trucking businesses and owner-operators.
CTA remains committed to reducing carbon emissions – the industry is currently spending billions of dollars on technologies and operating practices to reduce its carbon footprint – and looks forward to working with government on future measures. However, CTA says that any policies and regulations must be commonsense and practical and strongly consider the technological limitations of the trucking industry.
For example, Canada’s Heavy-Duty Vehicle and Engine Greenhouse Gas Emission Regulations are currently at odds with the trucking marketplace and Canada’s real-world operating environment.
The regulations are already leading to a supply shortage of vocational vehicles across Canada and these impacts are also creeping into the heavy-duty on road sector. This situation is expected to dramatically worsen over the 2025-26 period. One of the main culprits of this problem was the regulation’s over-estimation of sales for heavy trucks utilizing electric engines.
The rules create unnecessary hurdles in equipment procurement and will cause operational disruptions in the coming months and years, says CTA.
“CTA looks forward to working with the federal government on decarbonization efforts, but we can’t stress enough that the solutions must be discussed comprehensively with industry. We need a practical, measured and tangible pathway for emissions reductions that make sense for Canadian fleets and provide real environmental dividends for Canadians,” says Laskowski.
(source: CTA)