Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in an interview at the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council in Ottawa on Monday, Dec. 11, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Conservative party has been successful at “scapegoating” the carbon price as the reason everything is more expensive.
Trudeau says in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press that the carbon price is not to blame for the cost-of-living crisis, and eliminating it will neither lower prices nor make climate action cheaper.
He says cancelling it, as the Conservatives are demanding, would also eliminate rebate cheques that are worth between $240 and $386 every three months for a family of four in most provinces.
The federal Liberals have struggled to get their message about carbon pricing across to Canadians, and recent polls suggest support for the policy is fading amid a heavy push from the Conservatives that it is the main cause of inflation.
The Liberals believe the last two elections were a mini-referendum on carbon pricing, having included it as a main tenet of their platform.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said he intends to force the next election to be the final say on whether Canadians really do want it.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2023.
