Several Liberal ministers went on the offensive Tuesday to denounce the “lies” of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, whose plan to eliminate carbon pricing would lead, they say, to terrible social and economic consequences.
Canada’s Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, even suggests that the country’s factories will no longer be able to find export markets if the federal government axe the carbon tax as promised by its main political opponent. The European Union, she points out, is setting up a carbon adjustment mechanism at its borders.
“The rest of the world is going to say ‘we don’t want any more products from Canada’ if it’s not produced under a clear carbon plan,” Mr.me Freeland after arriving more than 20 minutes late for her own news conference on Tuesday.
The woman who is also Justin Trudeau’s deputy prime minister illustrates her point by meeting with Apple executives interested in the green aluminum produced here. “One of the reasons they are coming to Canada is that they want to aggressively make their supply chain green.”
“Lies” of a nuclear winter
In front of the main door of the House of Commons, a few minutes later, it was the turn of ministers Steven Guilbeault (Environment and Climate Change) and Jonathan Wilkinson (Energy and Natural Resources) to make a formal statement against Pierre Poilievre. “I think we have to fight these lies that are being spread by the Leader of the Opposition,” said the former. [Pierre Poilievre] “He just doesn’t tell the truth,” the second also accuses.
They ridiculed the comments of the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, who predicted a “nuclear winter for our economy” if the Liberal government’s plan to raise the price of carbon were to come to fruition.
” [La tarification du carbone] “It is an existential threat to our economy and our way of life,” the leader said in a speech to his troops on September 15. “We will see mass hunger and malnutrition with a tax this high… Our seniors will have to turn down the heat to just 14 or 13 degrees to survive the winter.”
The Liberal government does not anticipate any such thing. Instead, it denies the main argument of opponents of the federal carbon pricing system: that this “tax” is being passed on to consumers whose finances are already precarious. The New Democratic Party (NDP) also suggested in September that this system puts “a burden on the backs of workers.”
In fact, Ottawa levies a tax on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by industries and fuel companies outside Quebec. The money recovered is returned to consumers in the form of cheques that total about $1,120 per family of four in Ontario, according to federal calculations.
“Anyone who wants to change this needs to be honest with Ontario families. [et leur dire] “OK, you won’t get that check anymore,” says Chrystia Freeland.
Unfair for Quebec
The federal carbon pricing system does not apply to Quebec, since the province has voluntarily subscribed to a carbon exchange. This also means that Quebec would be a big loser if the federal government dropped its price on emissions from companies located in other provinces, warns Minister Steven Guilbeault.
“What Pierre Poilievre is proposing and that, somewhat strangely, François Legault seems to support, is to place Quebec at a disadvantage compared to the other Canadian provinces. If the federal pricing system disappeared, […] Quebec [pourrait] compete on an unequal footing with other provinces.”
The Conservative Party is demanding that other parties join it in its bid to defeat the government to force a “carbon tax election.” Conservatives were outraged by a CTV report that edited out a segment in which the leader said his election call was motivated by carbon pricing.
A Conservative motion of no confidence was debated Tuesday in the hope of bringing down the Trudeau government.
Bloc Québécois MP Alain Therrien also attacked the Conservative plan to campaign against the “carbon tax.” “It’s Don Quixote who is fighting with windmills! There is no carbon tax in Quebec! What is he going to do in Quebec for 40 days, talking about something that doesn’t exist?” he chanted in the House.
A Conservative elected official from British Columbia retorted that the Premier of Quebec, François Legault, had “pressed the Bloc Québécois to vote with the Conservatives […] to send Canadians into an election on the carbon tax.”
The Conservative motion is set to be put to a vote on Wednesday. Its outcome is no surprise, since both the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party have already announced that they will oppose it, thus ensuring the survival of the Trudeau government this week.