Conservatives will force a vote on a motion that calls on the government to freeze the federal carbon tax on all forms of home heating until the next election, and then ask Canadians at the polls to decide if they want the price reapplied.
British Columbia Premier
David Eby added his voice to his counterparts in Alberta and Saskatchewan in saying that the federal carve-out targeted mainly at Atlantic Canadians is unfair, and that Canadians from coast to coast are struggling with home heating bills.
Premiers Scott Moe and Danielle Smith are asking Ottawa to apply the same exemption to natural gas, used mainly by the residents in their provinces.
Even the new NDP government in Manitoba is
looking for “greater fairness” from the federal government in offering the same carbon tax breaks to Manitobans as in eastern Canada, while promising to work collaboratively with its federal partners to make that happen.
Liberal MP Kody Blois, who is chair of the Atlantic caucus, said approximately one million Canadian households still use oil to heat their homes — including a quarter of them in Atlantic Canada — and they will benefit from the tax exemption too.
In fact, he said, over 250,000 households in Ontario and 400,000 households in Quebec rely on oil, mostly in northern and rural communities. While the federal price on carbon applies in Ontario, Quebec has had its own cap-and-trade system for the past decade.
….and….there’s the east/west split, or the attempt to. Smells so familiar.
The Bloc Québécois and the NDP have agreed to support exemptions for marketable natural gas and propane but did not vote in favour of exempting home heating fuels.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s preferred option is to remove the GST from all home heating; Poilievre pointed out that provincial New Democrat parties across the country are “condemning” the federal government’s latest exemption on the carbon tax.
“So the question becomes, what will Jagmeet Singh do? Will Jagmeet Singh stand with provincial NDPers?” Poilievre asked. “Or will he once again sell out working-class Canadians in order to suck up to Justin Trudeau? He’ll have a chance to make that decision on Monday.”
Pressure is increasing on Justin Trudeau, who has said there will be no more carve-outs on the carbon tax
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Mr. Singh has also accused the Liberals of dividing the country with their home-heating oil exemption. But, instead of more carbon-price carveouts, his party has called on the federal government to lift the GST from all home heating.
Ms. McKenna says Liberals are lurching on climate policy and disputes the rationale for exempting heating oil from the carbon levy
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