Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre picked up where they left off as the House of Commons reconvened, arguing about the carbon tax and trading blows about the state of the country.
“After nine years of NDP-Liberals, taxes up, costs up, crimes up, times up. And now [Trudeau] wants a 300 percent carbon tax hike, all the way up to 61 cents a litre,” Poilievre said during question period on Sept. 16.
“Why not let Canadians choose a common-sense Conservative government that will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget, and stop the crime now?”
The Conservative Party has made the federal carbon tax a flagship issue for over a year, arguing that the downstream effects of the policy have increased prices for Canadians in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. The Tories have criticized Ottawa’s plans to increase the tax by
$15 each year until 2030 when it reaches $170 a tonne, and have put forth several motions in the House of Commons to “axe” it.
The Liberals, meanwhile, have argued a carbon tax is the most efficient way for Canadians to fight climate change,
and that eight out of 10 Canadians receive more money back than they pay in taxes through the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Trudeau responded to Poilievre by saying that over the summer, Canadians had been saying they needed “answers to the challenges they’ve been facing,” and accused Poilievre of only caring about “himself and his own political interests.”
“We’re going to keep focused on doing the things that [Poilievre] refuses to do, whether it’s him voting against dental care, whether it’s him voting against child care, whether it’s him voting against a National School Food Program, we’re going to still deliver the things that matter to Canadians,” Trudeau said.
The Tory leader brought up an Environment Canada
report that was given to the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) in May, which showed Canada’s real GDP would be $25 billion lower by 2030 because of the carbon tax. Poilievre said the report, which Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault had requested the PBO keep confidential, is evidence of “carbon tax fraud.”
Trudeau responded that the Conservatives have a “do-nothing climate plan” that would not respond to natural disasters like floods, forest fires, and droughts that have impacted the Canadian economy in recent years.
Looming Non-Confidence Vote
With the New Democrats recently announcing an end to their supply-and-confidence deal with the Liberals, which would have kept the minority Liberal government in
power until June 2025, the return of Parliament has been accompanied by questions over whether a non-confidence vote will be held.
While Poilievre has said he will
table a non-confidence motion at the “earliest opportunity” when the House resumes—which would trigger an early election—NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has not directly said whether he would vote in favour of one. Singh said he will consider each House vote separately to “make a determination on what’s in the best interest of Canadians.”
After the NDP pulled out of the agreement, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet
said his party had more leverage over Parliament and that he would try to make gains from the Liberals in exchange for support on key votes. Blanchet said he did not want to trigger an early election, since the Conservatives
are leading in the polls throughout the rest of Canada and “Quebecers don’t want the Conservatives.”
Prior to question period, Blanchet told reporters that his party would need a “very good compass” to navigate Parliament without triggering a non-confidence vote.
“There’s a game which nobody should ever play that we probably both call playing chicken—two cars going toward one another. We are playing chicken with four cars. Eventually one will hit another one, and there will be a wreckage,” he said.
“So I’m not certain that this session will last a very long time, and we will have to measure precisely, carefully, but boldly at once: What are the consequences of our decisions and votes?”
