‘We’ve had enough’: Protests over carbon price hike halt traffic across Canada

Anger over the increase to the federal carbon price led to protests across the country Monday, including several that stalled traffic on the Trans-Canada Highway and at provincial border crossings.

Ottawa’s planned $15-per-tonne increase in the federal consumer carbon price came into effect Monday, bringing the levy to $80 per tonne. That translates to the carbon price on fuel rising from about $0.14 to almost $0.18, bringing a litre of gasoline up 3.3 cents per litre on average.

Speaking outside a gas station in Nanaimo, B.C., Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called Monday’s increase a “cruel April Fool’s Day joke on Canadians” amid the high cost of living.

“We need to unify our country around an optimistic vision to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime,” he said when asked about the protests.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said the increase also means larger quarterly rebate cheques for Canadians, which he said Monday are set to go out on April 15.

But protesters in several provinces who descended on government buildings and blocked roads Monday — many holding signs that echoed Poilievre’s “axe the tax” and “spike the hike” slogans — said the increase is contributing to their affordability woes.

“We’ve had enough,” Jeff Galbraith, a People’s Party of Canada candidate, told Global News at a rally in Hope, B.C. that grew throughout the day, with protesters later disrupting traffic on three nearby highways including the Trans-Canada.

“I think we got a lot of frustrated, disillusioned, disheartened, disenfranchised Canadians. A majority of Canadians … they feel they have no voice anymore.”

In Cochrane, Alta., hundreds of protesters blocked the Trans-Canada Highway down to a single lane. RCMP