Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre holds a press conference regarding his “Axe the Tax†message in St. John’s on Friday, Oct.27, 2023. Poilievre is challenging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to a "carbon tax election," by calling on the Liberals to pause applying the federal levy on all home heating until the next federal vote. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly
OTTAWA – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is challenging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to a “carbon tax election,” and is calling on the Liberals to exempt all home heating from carbon pricing until the next federal vote.
Poilievre threw down the challenge in an address to his caucus this morning, where he chided the Liberals’ decision to pause the levy only for home heating oil over the next three years.
That decision, along with a pledge to increase the top-up to carbon rebates for rural Canadians, came amid weak polling for the Liberals in Atlantic Canada, where the federal carbon price came into effect in July, and where about one-third of homes use heating oil.
The prime minister seems eager to go to battle with Poilievre over climate action, saying this morning that the Tories have no plan for climate change – which Trudeau says means they also have no plan on the economy.
He has ruled out any further “carve-outs” to the carbon pricing system amid significant backlash, with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe threatening to stop collecting the carbon price on natural gas in January.
Poilievre says the Conservatives will force a vote in Parliament over extending the exemption to all forms of home heating.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2023.
