Quebec petroleum companies to pay green tax

The plan is ambitious: reduce greenhouse gases in Quebec by 10 million tonnes a year by 2012. It includes new emissions standards for passenger vehicles. Premier Jean Charest says companies should see it as their contribution to a cleaner environment. "If they don't see it that way, I'd regret that. I think they'd be totally wrong. They're going to be on the wrong side of this issue," Charest said. 'Consumers will have to pay' Fuel firms will end up passing on the extra cost at the pump, according to Carol Montreuil of the Canadian Petroleum Products institute. "Call it whatever you want, at the end of the day, it's a tax, and unfortunately consumers will have to pay for it," Montreuil said. Montreuil says his institute agrees the transportation sector has to contribute more to the effort to fight global warming, but a royalty on gas is not the way to do it.

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Steven Guilbault of Greenpeace charges it would be greedy to make drivers pay. "I think it's totally indecent for these companies to say we'll pass on the cost to consumers," Guilbault said. Government officials say they are counting on the goodwill of the petroleum industry. Though they admit it will be nearly impossible to tell whether the new carbon tax shows up in the price at the pumps.