It's Climate Change I tell'ya!! IT'S CLIMATE CHANGE!!
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Funding government climate change programs costs every Canadian over $12,000
Figures are just the cost of funding government programs, not the cost of the impact of these programs on the economy.
Author of the article:Lorrie Goldstein
Published Nov 01, 2025 • Last updated 9 hours ago • 3 minute read
Figuring out how much Canadians are paying for government climate change programs is difficult because the information is scattered across the three levels of government we have in Canada.
That said, a rough estimate of the cost for federal, provincial and territorial programs alone (excluding municipal governments) is $503 billion, or $12,062 per Canadian.
To arrive at this number, I’m using a statement by former federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault on April 14, 2023 that that year’s federal budget “representing the single biggest package of climate commitments in Canada’s history, will take total federal investments north of $200 billion” since the Liberals were elected in 2015.
This to fund 149 programs administered by 13 federal departments.
Provincial/territorial spending has been estimated at $303 billion for 364 programs, based on data from the Canadian Climate Institute and Navius Research, cited by retired energy consultant Robert Lyman in a May 15, 2024 Financial Post column.
(That estimate put total federal spending on climate change programs at $172.8 billion, slightly below Guilbeault’s $200 billion figure. In that case, combined federal and provincial/territorial spending would be $475.8 billion or $11,410 for every Canadian, with the precise amount depending on what province the individual resides in.)
But these figures are just the cost of funding government programs, not the cost of the impact of these programs on the economy.
In a report for the Fraser Institute in January 2025, University of Guelph economics professor Ross McKitrick, estimated federal policies to reduce Canada’s industrial greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 will cost every Canadian worker $8,000 annually in 2050 because of their negative impact on the economy, reducing Canada’s GDP by 6.2% and costing 254,000 jobs.
In July 2024, McKitrick estimated the government’s interim goal of reducing emissions to at least 40% below 2005 levels by 2030, will cost the average Canadian worker $6,700 annually.
While committed to the 2050 target of net zero emissions, Prime Minister Mark Carney has not committed to former PM Justin Trudeau’s 2030 target.
Carney will soon unveil strategy
In the wake of cancelling Trudeau’s consumer carbon tax in March, Carney is about to unveil a “climate competitiveness strategy,” centred around what he says will be an expanded and improved industrial carbon tax.
With Canada’s emissions estimated at 8.5% below 2005 levels as of last year, two major monitoring agencies — the Canadian Climate Institute and the Trottier Energy Institute at Polytechnique Montreal — recently concluded the 2030 target is unachievable, and that emission reductions will be about half of the 40% target.
In terms of total public and private-sector investment needed to achieve Canada’s target of net-zero emissions by 2050, the Liberals said in their April 2022 budget that Canada will need an annual investment of $125 billion to $140 billion compared to $15 billion to $25 billion today.
Cost estimated at about $2 trillion over three decades
In October 2021, RBC estimated the cost at about $2 trillion over the next three decades, requiring an investment of at least $60 billion annually from governments, businesses and communities.
Proponents of these initiatives argue that focusing only on costs does not take into account the damage that will be caused to the economy by increasingly severe weather if we do not address climate change, plus the new jobs and economic activity that will be created by investing in green technology.
However, as the parliamentary budget officer noted in October 2024, “Canada’s own emissions (about 1.4% of the global total) are not large enough to materially impact climate change and therefore their reduction would not materially affect the Canadian economy” without global action.
In 2024, according to the International Energy Agency, global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions hit an all-time high of 37.8 billion tonnes.
In a report last month, the United Nations estimated global emissions will decrease by 17% compared to 1990 levels by 2035, far short of its 60% target.
As for boosting the Canadian economy, the federal government’s own data last year estimated the annual hit to the Canadian economy would reach almost 1% of GDP by 2030, or $25 billion.
fraserinstitute.org
torontosun.com
Figures are just the cost of funding government programs, not the cost of the impact of these programs on the economy.
Author of the article:Lorrie Goldstein
Published Nov 01, 2025 • Last updated 9 hours ago • 3 minute read
Figuring out how much Canadians are paying for government climate change programs is difficult because the information is scattered across the three levels of government we have in Canada.
That said, a rough estimate of the cost for federal, provincial and territorial programs alone (excluding municipal governments) is $503 billion, or $12,062 per Canadian.
To arrive at this number, I’m using a statement by former federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault on April 14, 2023 that that year’s federal budget “representing the single biggest package of climate commitments in Canada’s history, will take total federal investments north of $200 billion” since the Liberals were elected in 2015.
This to fund 149 programs administered by 13 federal departments.
Provincial/territorial spending has been estimated at $303 billion for 364 programs, based on data from the Canadian Climate Institute and Navius Research, cited by retired energy consultant Robert Lyman in a May 15, 2024 Financial Post column.
(That estimate put total federal spending on climate change programs at $172.8 billion, slightly below Guilbeault’s $200 billion figure. In that case, combined federal and provincial/territorial spending would be $475.8 billion or $11,410 for every Canadian, with the precise amount depending on what province the individual resides in.)
But these figures are just the cost of funding government programs, not the cost of the impact of these programs on the economy.
In a report for the Fraser Institute in January 2025, University of Guelph economics professor Ross McKitrick, estimated federal policies to reduce Canada’s industrial greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 will cost every Canadian worker $8,000 annually in 2050 because of their negative impact on the economy, reducing Canada’s GDP by 6.2% and costing 254,000 jobs.
In July 2024, McKitrick estimated the government’s interim goal of reducing emissions to at least 40% below 2005 levels by 2030, will cost the average Canadian worker $6,700 annually.
While committed to the 2050 target of net zero emissions, Prime Minister Mark Carney has not committed to former PM Justin Trudeau’s 2030 target.
Carney will soon unveil strategy
In the wake of cancelling Trudeau’s consumer carbon tax in March, Carney is about to unveil a “climate competitiveness strategy,” centred around what he says will be an expanded and improved industrial carbon tax.
With Canada’s emissions estimated at 8.5% below 2005 levels as of last year, two major monitoring agencies — the Canadian Climate Institute and the Trottier Energy Institute at Polytechnique Montreal — recently concluded the 2030 target is unachievable, and that emission reductions will be about half of the 40% target.
In terms of total public and private-sector investment needed to achieve Canada’s target of net-zero emissions by 2050, the Liberals said in their April 2022 budget that Canada will need an annual investment of $125 billion to $140 billion compared to $15 billion to $25 billion today.
Cost estimated at about $2 trillion over three decades
In October 2021, RBC estimated the cost at about $2 trillion over the next three decades, requiring an investment of at least $60 billion annually from governments, businesses and communities.
Proponents of these initiatives argue that focusing only on costs does not take into account the damage that will be caused to the economy by increasingly severe weather if we do not address climate change, plus the new jobs and economic activity that will be created by investing in green technology.
However, as the parliamentary budget officer noted in October 2024, “Canada’s own emissions (about 1.4% of the global total) are not large enough to materially impact climate change and therefore their reduction would not materially affect the Canadian economy” without global action.
In 2024, according to the International Energy Agency, global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions hit an all-time high of 37.8 billion tonnes.
In a report last month, the United Nations estimated global emissions will decrease by 17% compared to 1990 levels by 2035, far short of its 60% target.
As for boosting the Canadian economy, the federal government’s own data last year estimated the annual hit to the Canadian economy would reach almost 1% of GDP by 2030, or $25 billion.
Canada’s Path to Net Zero by 2050: Darkness at the End of the Tunnel
GOLDSTEIN: Funding government climate change programs costs every Canadian over $12,000
After cancelling Justin Trudeau’s consumer carbon tax, Mark Carney is about to unveil a “climate competitiveness strategy." Read more.
Just imagine the environmental uses that money could be used for . Habitat restoration for one .