Why Rich Polluters Should Pay for the Climate Crisis

Canadians are paying more—and getting less.

Wildfires are forcing families from their homes. Heatwaves are becoming more dangerous. Floods are causing billions of dollars in damage. At the same time, the cost of living continues to climb, leaving many people struggling to afford the basics.

But while ordinary people bear the costs of the climate crisis, oil and gas companies are making billions.

That isn’t fair—and it doesn’t have to be this way.

A windfall profits tax would ensure that companies making extraordinary profits from the climate and energy crisis pay their fair share. Those revenues could be invested in the things Canadians actually need: affordable housing, stronger public health care, climate solutions, and support for communities hit hardest by climate disasters.

Here’s why Oxfam Canada is calling on Canada to make rich polluters pay.

What is a windfall profits tax?

A windfall profits tax is exactly what it sounds like: a tax on extraordinary profits that companies make because of unexpected events—not because they’ve become more productive or innovative.

When wars, supply disruptions or global crises drive up oil prices, oil and gas companies can earn billions more without doing anything differently. Families, meanwhile, pay higher prices every time they fill up their cars or buy groceries.

A windfall profits tax simply redirects part of those unexpected profits back to the public, where they can help people instead of padding corporate profits.

It’s not a new idea. Canada introduced excess profits taxes during the Second World War to prevent companies from profiteering during wartime. More recently, the federal government imposed a one-time windfall tax on excess profits earned by banks and insurance companies.

If windfall taxes make sense when financial institutions profit from a crisis, they also make sense when fossil fuel companies profit from a climate emergency.

Oil and gas companies are profiting from the climate crisis

Canada is warming at roughly twice the global average, and the impacts are becoming impossible to ignore.

Recent years have brought record-breaking heat, the worst wildfire season in Canadian history, and increasingly destructive floods and storms. The Canadian Climate Institute warns that climate change will cost Canadians billions of dollars every year through damage to infrastructure, lost productivity and growing health impacts.

Meanwhile, Canada’s oil and gas sector remains the country’s largest and fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Yet while communities face the consequences, oil and gas companies continue to enjoy massive profits. Every increase in global oil prices delivers billions of dollars in additional revenue to the industry.

These aren’t rewards for innovation. They’re profits made possible by global crises and volatile energy markets.

The people paying the price for climate change shouldn’t also be paying for those profits.

How much money could a windfall profits tax raise?

The answer: billions.

A proposal from Canadians for Tax Fairness would introduce a 33% tax on oil and gas profits that exceed normal levels. It estimates that this could raise around $18 billion in just one year.

A stronger approach—similar to the excess profits tax Canada used during the 1940s—could raise as much as $46 billion annually.

Imagine what that money could do.

It could help build affordable housing, strengthen our health care system, invest in clean energy, support workers through a just transition, improve disaster preparedness, and help communities recover after climate emergencies.

Instead of enriching wealthy shareholders—many of whom live outside Canada—we could invest those profits in building a fairer, more resilient future.

Canadians agree: it’s time to make rich polluters pay

Most Canadians already support the idea.

Recent polling found that 62% of Canadians support a windfall profits tax on oil and gas companies.

Momentum is also growing in Parliament, where MPs have called for windfall taxes on sectors earning extraordinary profits during times of crisis.

Canadians understand something simple: when families are struggling and corporations are making record profits, those corporations should contribute more—not less.

It’s time for Canada to make rich polluters pay

The climate crisis is accelerating. So is inequality.

Year after year, ordinary people are asked to pay more—for groceries, housing, insurance, and disaster recovery—while the companies most responsible for driving the climate crisis continue to earn enormous profits.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

A windfall profits tax is one practical step Canada can take to build a fairer economy. It would ensure that those who have profited most from the climate and energy crisis help pay for the solutions we all need.

Instead of making everyday Canadians shoulder the costs alone, we can make rich polluters pay.

That’s why Oxfam Canada is calling on the federal government to introduce a windfall profits tax on oil and gas companies.

Because when corporations profit from a crisis, they should help pay to solve it—not make the rest of us foot the bill.

Join thousands of Canadians calling on the federal government to make rich polluters pay. Add your name today and help build a fairer, greener future for everyone.