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Albertans make up about 11 per cent of Canada’s population, yet we buy nearly one-third of the pickup trucks sold in the country.

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We like them to haul arc welders, lumber and table saws to worksites. We like them to carry bales on farms and ranches. Or haul snowmobiles to the trails.

And we like them just because they look cool when arriving at the rodeo or bonspiel.

Pickups are so integral to the culture of our province that when Jason Kenney decided to push for a united-right party, he symbolically mounted the campaign in a now-famous blue pickup — ultramarine blue, Alberta’s official shade.

So it’s not surprising the Trudeau Liberal government hates pickups.

Federal environment department proposals, obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, that are part of the Liberals’ grand scheme to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 40 per cent by 2030, repeatedly single out pickups as climate criminals.

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Pickups have been exempted from the federal $1,000 gas-guzzler tax in place since 2007. But that seems about to change.

Buyers of new pickups should expect to have to pay at least an extra $1,000 to Ottawa starting in the next year or two. But another proposal among those uncovered by Blacklock’s suggests the pickup tax could go as high as $4,000 to discourage their sale.

Of course, it’s not just pickups. All SUVs would likely be covered, too, with a surtax in the $1,000 to $4,000 range, depending on fuel consumption.

But here’s the kicker. (Actually, there are two kickers.)

First, internal combustion cars would be far more lightly taxed than pickups, if they were taxed at all.

And can you guess which province sells disproportionately more cars than any other? Correct, Quebec.

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Just as one-third of pickups are bought by Albertans, one-third of cars sold in Canada go to Quebecers.

Between one-third and one-half of all Suzukis, Mitsubishis, Subarus, Kias, Mazdas, Fiats, Scions and Hyundais sold in Canada are sold in Quebec, despite that province constituting just 24 per cent of the national population.

So even when the feds don’t appear to be punishing Alberta and rewarding Quebec, they are.

Kicker No. 2?

The Trudeau government intends to use the money raised by taxing pickup buyers through the nose to fund larger subsidies for buyers of electric vehicles (EV).

Ottawa already pays $5,000 in rebates per EV. Once they start taxing pickups (and SUVs and three-tonne delivery trucks), the EV subsidy could rise to $8,000 or more.

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Since the average income of EV purchasers is well in excess of $100,000, while the income of the average internal combustion engine vehicle buyer is just over $60,000, this plan amounts to a giant tax on the middle class to help buy cars for the upper classes.

There’s even a regional angle to EV subsidies, too.

Currently, EVs are mostly bought as second or even third cars by affluent urban dwellers to use to commute.

For most rural residents, though, an EV simply isn’t practical. The distances are too long, the battery ranges too short and the recharging stations too scarce.

And don’t even get me started on EV performance in Prairie winters.

I doubt if anyone in Ottawa formulating these rules has ever had to drive from Winnipeg to Grande Prairie. In January.

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So EV subsidies also amount to a wealth transfer from rural and small-town Canadians to fashionable urbanites. (Mostly likely from Conservative voters to Liberal voters.)

The impracticality of the Liberals’ green plans would be laughable if they weren’t destined to undercut Albertans’ standard of living.

Trudeau’s emission plans, released Tuesday, call for 60 per cent of new vehicles sold by 2030 to be electrics (up from five per cent today) and at the same time for emissions from power plants to be reduced by 77 per cent.

Not gonna happen. But all the taxes and Alberta bashing are.

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