(Ottawa) As part of a private member’s bill that would create another exception to carbon pricing, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault accuses Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of lacking “moral decency” , and the Conservative leader urges the minister to resign if the bill is adopted.
A Conservative MP’s bill would exempt carbon pricing from natural gas and propane used to heat farm buildings or run grain dryers. It must receive a final vote in the Senate before dying or becoming law.
It has quickly become the latest focal point in the ongoing conflict over carbon pricing between liberals and conservatives.
Bill C-234 was passed in the House of Commons in March with the support of the Conservatives, the Bloc Québécois, the NDP and the Greens. All but three Liberal MPs voted against.
Minister Guilbeault said Tuesday that the government does not support it because most agricultural fuels are already exempt from the carbon price and that there are programs that aim to offset the cost of the carbon price for farmers or to help them purchase more energy-efficient equipment that alleviates their need to use natural gas or propane.
Farmers already do not pay the carbon price on gasoline and diesel used in agricultural vehicles. There is a tax credit for farmers to help offset the cost of the carbon price they pay, but as with family rebates, there is no direct link to what a farmer specific payroll. It is calculated on the basis of the overall farm income.
“97% of fuels already excluded”
Mr. Guilbeault accused Mr. Poilievre of misleading Canadians about the reality of this policy.
“First and foremost, people should remember, and if Pierre Poilievre had any moral decency he would admit it, that we have already excluded 97% of fuels used on farms. Indeed, when we implemented carbon pricing in Canada, the price of pollution, we realized that there was no alternative for these applications,” underlined Mr. Guilbeault.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Steven Guilbeault
“So the agricultural pollution price only applies to 3% of fuels used, where alternative technologies are available. »
Mr. Guilbeault added that the government has granted $500 million in aid to help farmers purchase new grain drying equipment.
But he didn’t say what the Liberals would do if the bill passes.
“We will see what the Senate decides and then we will have to make our own decision on how we act,” he said.
A day earlier, Mr. Poilievre had said that Minister Guilbeault would have to resign if the bill came into force, because Mr. Guilbeault had said last week that there would be no more exemptions to carbon pricing as long as he was Minister of the Environment.
Guilbeault’s comment, in an interview with The Canadian Press, came as the Liberals were under pressure to expand a new carbon price exemption for residential heating oil to apply to all fuels. used for residential heating.
“This message to Justin Trudeau is very clear,” said Mr. Poilievre.
PHOTO ETHAN CAIRNS, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Pierre Poilievre
“He will resign if this Bill C-234 is adopted by the Senate. So what will happen? Well, the pressure is on. »
Convince the senators
Mr. Poilievre stressed that he was “launching a full-scale campaign” to convince senators to vote in favor of the bill.
“And we are committed to working with all Canadians over the coming weeks to organize a massive pressure campaign, just as we did for home heating, to eliminate this tax,” insisted the Conservative leader.
He also accused Mr. Guilbeault of putting pressure on senators on how to vote, “begging” them to reject the bill.
On the contrary, the minister explained that he had called about half a dozen senators over the last two weeks to clarify the government’s position, but without telling them how to vote.
“The only person who tells senators what to do and how to vote is Pierre Poilievre,” retorted the Minister of the Environment. We don’t do that. »
The bill was first debated in the Senate during its third and final reading last Thursday.
The debate was adjourned that day and cannot resume until next Tuesday at the earliest, when the Senate resumes its work.
The House of Commons and the Senate are on a week off.