OTTAWA-
Canadians paying the federal carbon price got a midsummer cash drop today with the first half of their annual ‘climate action incentive’ payment deposited into their bank accounts .
Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promotes the payments at various whistle stops in the Ottawa area, calling them a way to ‘rally Canadians’ in the fight against climate change without causing them financial hardship .
People who filed their 2021 tax returns in Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan received the deposits on Friday, to cover half of the amount they can expect to receive for the 2022-2023 fiscal year .
The rest will come in quarterly payments in mid-September and mid-January.
It’s the first time carbon price money has been sent quarterly instead of a single lump sum hidden in tax refunds, as the federal government seeks to make the payments more visible.
The success of this effort may be limited, however, as many Canadians have seen the deposit mislabeled in their online accounts, including as “Federal Payment”, “Canada Fed” and “EFT Credit Canada”.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 15, 2022.