Tory Leader Poilievre Tables Motion to Cancel Carbon Tax Increase

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rises to question the government during question period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sept. 26, 2022. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre tabled a motion on Tuesday asking the government to refrain from raising the carbon tax next year, saying it will further fuel inflation.

“The big logical fallacy of the Liberal carbon tax [is that] it drives up the cost of domestic production and drives that production to foreign, more polluting jurisdictions that then require higher transportation costs and more emissions to bring them back to Canadian consumers here at home,” Poilievre said in his House of Commons speech presenting the motion.

“Our approach should be exactly the opposite, we should bring production home: Our food, our energy, our resources, right here in Canada,” said Poilievre, MP for Carleton.

Poilievre provided the example of a tomato producer from his riding who will see his production cost increase due to the carbon tax, leading consumers to prefer buying a cheaper tomato grown in Mexico.

“What happened to the local 100 mile diet that environmentalists used to promote? Well, this tax makes that diet more difficult and less affordable,” said Poilievre.

The carbon tax is set to increase next April. While drivers will see the direct effect of a few cents at the pump, the cost of everything that uses hydrocarbons will rise as well.

According to the Canadian Taxpayer Federation (CTF), the carbon tax currently costs about 11.1 cents per litre of gasoline, and is slated to increase to 37.6 cents per litre by 2030.

Ottawa is also introducing Clean Fuel Regulations, which the CTF said would add an extra 11 cents per litre by 2030.

The text of the Tory motion says that “given that the government’s tax increases on gas, home heating and, indirectly, groceries, will fuel inflation, and that the Parliamentary Budget Officer reported the carbon tax costs 60% of households more than they get back, the government must eliminate its plan to triple the carbon tax.”

Other Parties React

The Conservatives’ motion was opposed by the governing Liberals as well as the other parties in the House.

“This is an anti-climate action motion pure and simple, less than 48 hours after Hurricane Fiona touched down in Atlantic Canada,” said Liberal MP Rachel Bendayan, parliamentary secretary to the minister of tourism and associate minister of finance.

“What the motion from the Leader of the Opposition essentially says is that now is the time to give up in the fight against the climate crisis,” she said.

Bloc Québécois MP Mario Simard accused the Conservatives of using high inflation to promote oil and gas.

“Remember, the solution to the war in Ukraine was more gas, more oil. And now the Conservatives are saying the same thing: more gas, more oil, stop fighting climate change and get rid of the carbon tax,” said Simard.

Green Party MP Mike Morrice asked why the Tories are not more concerned by oil companies “gouging” at the pumps and posting large profits than what the carbon tax is adding, which he characterized as negligible in comparison.

Bendayan said her government’s “price on pollution” does not make life less affordable for the “vast majority of Canadians,” and that its proposed affordability measures—which include a GST rebate for some Canadians—won’t fuel inflation.

Others have pointed out that such measures usually generate increased demand in the economy, which fuels inflation.

“Any belief that it will ease inflationary pressures must have studied different economics textbooks,” wrote Scotiabank economist Derek Holt on Sept. 13.

Poilievre offered tailored rebukes to the criticism.

He accused the Bloc of giving more power to Ottawa through taxation, he said the NDP was abandoning its working class constituents, and said the Greens shouldn’t complain about the profits of oil companies since they want gas to be less affordable.