Poilievre Calls Liberals’ Climate Action Plan a ‘Tax Plan’

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre rises during Question Period at the House of Commons in Ottawa on Sept. 22, 2022. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says the Liberals’ climate action plan is actually a “tax plan” that will raise money for the government without reducing emissions.

“[The prime minister’s] carbon tax has not hit a single, solitary emissions reduction target,” said Poilievre during question period in the House of Commons on Oct. 5. “It has not worked.”

Poilievre said a farm family recently told him they paid over $12,000 on carbon taxes in July alone.

“Now obviously, that gets passed on to customers,” he said, before adding that “the prime minister wants to triple, triple, triple the tax on that family, which they'll have to pass on in even higher food prices.”

The carbon tax is set to increase again in April 2023, which will cause the price of fuel per ton in Canada to rise by $15 and will continue to do so every year until 2030, according to government figures, by which time fuel will cost $170 per ton.

The government says the rate hikes “are based on global warming factors and emissions factors used by Environment and Climate Change Canada.”

Responding to Poilievre’s request that Ottawa cancel its planned carbon tax increase, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “Clever slogans don’t help families.”

“When is the Conservative leader going to get serious on climate change?” Trudeau asked.

“The prime minister hasn’t gotten serious on climate change,” Poilievre responded.

“He has a tax plan, not a climate plan, that has raised money for his government but it’s not reduced emissions or hit targets.”

The government’s emissions reduction target is to reach net-zero emissions countrywide by 2050. By 2030, the government aims to have reduced Canada’s emissions by 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels.

“In the month of July, when this family was paying $12,645 in carbon tax, supposedly for the environment, the prime minister jumped on his private jet 20 times,” Poilievre said during Wednesday’s question period.

“Will he tell us how much carbon he emitted in that month of July?”

Trudeau said Poilievre should “put as much energy into building a plan to fight climate change as he does into concocting elaborate theories and attacks.”

“We might be able to compare a real climate plan from the Conservatives to what the government has been doing for the past seven years,” said Trudeau. “But he would prefer to focus on me than focus on Canadians and their future.”

Poilievre has repeatedly called on the government to cancel its planned tax hikes. On Sept. 28, his motion to stop the federal carbon tax from increasing next April was defeated in the House 209–116.

A day later, Conservative MP and House Leader Andrew Scheer tabled a new motion to prevent tax increases on items like “gas, groceries, home heating and pay cheques,” the motion’s text reads.

“When they do triple the [carbon] tax, how much will it cost to buy a litre of gas across Canada?” Poilievre asked Wednesday.