Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said conservative politicians across Canada, including the prime minister, are lying to Canadians about carbon prices.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is reeling from mounting attacks on carbon pricing, with voters increasingly supporting politicians who say the policies are making life worse.
Most premiers and the federal Conservative Party are calling on the Liberals to halt the carbon price hike, scheduled for at least April 1.
Prime Minister Trudeau said these politicians are failing to acknowledge and inform Canadians about the carbon price rebate, which is meant to offset costs for consumers, and the amount of additional rebates for rural Canadians. He has accused Conservative leader Pierre Poièvre of blocking a bill that would double the country’s income.
His comments at a press conference in Vancouver on Wednesday came as multiple premiers presented anti-carbon price challenges to a House of Commons committee this week.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said conservative prime ministers and politicians would rather “complain and attack Canadians” for political gain than devise their own approaches to pricing pollution and combating climate change. He said he prefers to “lead to misconceptions.”
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe told the House of Commons Management Committee earlier Wednesday that he believes climate change exists and emissions need to be reduced. But he said putting a price on pollution is not the way to go.
“The goal is not for big polluters to pay, the goal is to reduce emissions,” he said, pouting a little during an exchange with new Democratic Rep. Alexandre Bouleris.
“Why shouldn’t we make big polluters pay?” Bouleris believes Mo will solve climate change with “giant vacuum cleaners” sucking emissions from the sky. he accused and demanded.
The adversarial nature of the debate was on full display at the committee, which spent almost as much time debating whether Moe should have been there as it did listening to Moe.
Liberal, National Democratic Party and Bloc Quebecois MPs accused the Conservative Party chair of the committee of sidestepping other members and inviting Meaux to speak without consulting them.
Lawmakers from all three parties support carbon pricing and called on Mr Moe to explain what he would do to reduce emissions.
Sask.Members of Parliament raise objections to the Prime Minister
In a letter to premiers on Tuesday, Trudeau suggested that if they don’t like the federal government’s carbon pricing policy that much, they could create their own system to achieve the same results.
Moe said Saskatchewan’s industry and farmers are reducing emissions and substituting carbon-intensive products overseas.
“We are not behind the curve on climate change,” Mo said.
He argued that carbon prices make it difficult for households and businesses to reduce emissions.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe told a committee Wednesday that he opposes the federal carbon tax, calling it “ineffective.” Moe, a longtime critic of the tax, discussed the benefits of the tax and its economic impact on Canadians with Liberal MP Jenica Atwin.
Ontario Liberal MP Frances Drouhin challenged Mr. Moe, saying if he’s so worried about the cost of living, why isn’t he cutting taxes that he can control?
Saskatchewan already exempts natural gas used for heat from provincial sales tax.
In January, Moe also stopped the state from collecting a carbon price on natural gas for heating purposes, in retaliation for the federal government’s decision to temporarily exclude heating oil from the policy.
About 80 per cent of Saskatchewan households use natural gas for heating, while only three per cent use kerosene.
Liberal MP Charles Sousa pressed Moe a bit on the decision, asking if he expected Saskatchewan residents to abide by the law.
Moe said that’s true, but he also said decisions on carbon prices and natural gas were made because Ottawa was being unfair.
The Liberals announced the kerosene exemption last fall, promoting it as a fair plan since kerosene already costs three to four times more than natural gas.
But other prime ministers and Conservatives said it was a political move to increase votes in Atlantic Canada, a traditionally strong Liberal region where kerosene accounts for about a third of home heating usage.
