Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to put a three-year pause on the carbon tax on heating oil is a response to poor polling numbers for the Liberals.
“What caused Justin Trudeau to freak out yesterday and hold a sudden press conference to announce that he was going to pause the carbon tax on home heating oil?” Mr. Poilievre said during a press conference in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, on Oct. 27.
“The answer is that he was plummeting in the polls and Pierre Polievre was holding massive rallies in Liberal-held ridings to axe the tax.”
Mr. Trudeau also said that beginning in April 2024, the climate action incentive payment rural top-up rate will also be doubled from 10 percent to 20 percent of the baseline amount that Canadians get as part of their quarterly carbon price rebates.
“If you live in a rural community, you don’t have the same options that people who live in cities do. We get that. So, this is more money in your pocket to recognize those realities, even as we continue to fight climate change,” Mr. Trudeau said.
“This is an important moment where we’re adjusting policies so that they have the right outcome.”
The federal carbon tax, which applies to provinces and territories without their own carbon pricing systems, is currently priced at $65 per tonne of emissions and will increase by $15 every year until 2030. Households in the provinces receive carbon rebates to offset the costs they incur.
Mr. Poilievre, who has long called for Ottawa to “axe” the carbon tax, said the move was a “scam designed to trick oil-heating households into voting for him one more time so he can hit them with his big tax hike.”
The Conservative leader pledged to approve natural resource projects in Newfoundland and Labrador to bring its oil and gas sector “roaring back to life,” which he claimed would replace overseas oil being brought to Canada from “foreign dictatorships.”
A recent Ipsos poll showed the Liberals trailing behind the Conservatives in popularity, with the Tories maintaining the support of 35 percent of Canadians, versus the Liberals’ 30 percent.