Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced that he will force numerous votes when Parliament returns to the House of Commons next week to spike Trudeau’s upcoming carbon tax hike.
The Conservative Party issued a news release on Wednesday announcing the plan to fight against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to raise the carbon tax by 23% and quadruple the carbon tax over the next six years.
“On April 1st, Justin Trudeau is planning to play a cruel joke on Canadians. Even as people struggle to put food on the table, gas in their cars, or heat their homes, he’s going to raise their taxes again,” reads the release.
The Conservatives referenced that almost 70% of Canadians oppose the upcoming carbon tax hike. The party also referenced the growing number of premiers opposing the carbon tax.
Nova Scotia’s premier was the most recent to join the lengthy list of premiers asking Trudeau to scrap the carbon tax, following Newfoundland and Labrador’s Liberal Premier Andrew Furey.
The list of provincial premiers opposing or defying the carbon tax now includes almost every province. The only premiers yet to publicly oppose or defy the carbon tax are from the provinces Quebec and British Columbia.
While the Northwest Territories have opposed the carbon tax publicly, Yukon and Nunavut have yet to do so.
“But Trudeau isn’t listening. He doesn’t care that people are struggling because of his failed policies. But Common Sense Conservatives are listening. We know Canadians need relief,” said the release.
The Conservatives said that they would force multiple votes in Parliament on the issue. The final vote will be next Thursday.
“Mark your calendars,” said the party.
The Conservatives called on Liberal and NDP MPs to stand with Canadians.
“Canadians will eventually get the chance to vote to axe the tax entirely in a carbon tax election. But next week, Liberal and NDP MPs will have multiple opportunities to listen to Canadians and vote with Common Sense Conservatives to spike the April Fools’ hike. Canadians should watch very closely to see if their MPs vote for pain and tax increases, or common sense relief for Canadians,” concluded the news release.
Poilievre also recently called on Canadians to protest outside of Liberal and NDP MPs offices and to bombard them with phone calls and emails.
This was when the Conservative leader initially announced his “massive pressure campaign” without getting into the specifics of his now-planned parliamentary votes.
After speaking with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Calgary, Trudeau answered a question about Canadians and their opposition to the carbon tax. He responded with an eight-minute rant about how he would justify the carbon tax and its upcoming increase on April 1.
“My job is not to be popular, although it helps my job. My job is to do the right things for Canada now and do the right things for Canadians a generation from now. That’s what I’ve been focused on,” said Trudeau.
He added that he would not be firing Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, as Smith has repeatedly requested.
The carbon tax rebate recently received a makeover and was renamed the “Canada Carbon Rebate.” The name change came with no alterations to the pricing scheme or size of rebates.
The federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Franco Terrazzano, likened the rebranding effort to putting “lipstick on a pig.”
“Trudeau’s real problem isn’t that Canadians don’t know what his government is doing; Trudeau’s real problem is that Canadians know his carbon tax is making life more expensive,” said Terrazzano.
The tax increase on April 1 raises the pricing on carbon emissions from $65 to $80 per tonne. Fees are expected to rise annually as part of the national rebate plan until 2030.
The increase will tax an additional 17 cents per litre of gasoline, 21 cents per litre of diesel, and 15 cents per cubic metre of natural gas.
