NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party is introducing a motion that calls for the removal of GST from home heating bills and funding for a national heat pump program.
The move comes a day after the defeat of a Conservative motion requesting the federal carbon tax be paused on all forms of home heating for three years. The NDP voted in favour of the motion.
Singh is now calling for the Liberals to support his party’s motion.
“Will the Liberals support our measure, which is not divisive? It’s a permanent relief for all Canadians to take GST off of home heating, to give all Canadians a break this winter,” Mr. Singh told reporters during a Nov. 7 press conference.
The NDP motion, introduced by MP Taylor Bachrach, would see the federal government remove the GST from all forms of home heating. It would also make eco-energy retrofits and heat pumps free for low- and middle-income Canadians “regardless of their initial home heating energy source,” and finance the changes by implementing a tax on the excess profits of oil and gas companies.
A Tory motion that would have paused the federal carbon tax on all forms of home heating for three years was defeated on Nov. 6 by the governing Liberals, along with the Bloc Québécois and Green Party. The motion came days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a three-year pause on the carbon price for home heating oil, which largely benefited the Atlantic provinces where 30 percent of homeowners still use furnace oil to heat their homes.
The Conservatives wanted the exemption extended to all forms of home heating, calling the government’s decision “divisive” and saying it was a response to the Liberal’s poor polling numbers in Atlantic Canada. The NDP, which has typically voted in favour of Liberal motions since it entered into a supply-and-confidence agreement with the government in 2022, voted in support of the Conservative motion.
Mr. Singh told reporters the party’s vote the previous day showed that its members rejected the “division” and “the pitting region against region” of the Liberals’ carbon tax exemption plan. Singh also accused the Conservatives of having a “lack of a climate [change] plan,” saying the new NDP motion addresses both issues.
Like Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, the New Democrat leader also took issue with Rural Economic Development Minister Gudie Hutchings’ Oct. 28 statement that if western provinces wanted more input on carbon tax policy like Atlantic Canada, they should elect more Liberal MPs who could share their concerns with the government.
“It is very clear that this was a divisive approach,” Mr. Singh said. “That’s, I think, no longer up for debate. What is up for debate is the way they’re going to vote tomorrow.”
During Question Period later in the day, Mr. Poilievre accused the NDP of “flip-flopping” on the carbon tax.
“Originally they wanted to quadruple the tax. Yesterday, they said they wanted to pause the tax. And today they won’t take a position because they have omitted mention of the prime minister’s quadrupling of the tax in to the motion,” Mr. Poilievre said.
