(Ottawa) A marathon of nearly 30 hours ended in the House of Commons Friday evening. The Conservatives have paralyzed parliamentary work since Thursday evening with more than a hundred votes on the Trudeau government’s spending in an attempt to force it to abandon the carbon tax.
They thus delayed the advancement of the bill which makes it possible to implement the measures contained in the last economic update with 135 votes.
“Over the past 30 hours, parliamentarians from across the country have stood, voted and represented their constituents by focusing on their vision for the future of the country and we are happy to eventually reach the end of this debate period,” declared Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after the last vote around twenty minutes after 11 p.m.
The Conservatives hoped that the Liberals would eventually give in to pressure to add new exemptions to the carbon tax, as they already did for people who heat with oil. They link this tax to the increase in the cost of living even though Canadians who pay it receive a compensatory amount from the government, which is higher in the majority of cases.
This price on pollution introduced by the Liberals in 2018 applies in eight of the ten Canadian provinces. Quebec and British Columbia are exempt since they have their own system.
The Leader of the Official Opposition, Pierre Poilievre, was not in the chamber and voted electronically all evening. It was the Deputy Leader of the House, Luc Berthold, who spoke. “The Prime Minister chose to do nothing so we will be back on Monday to continue this fight,” he insisted before the adoption at third reading of the government’s appropriations.
Earlier in the day, the government House leader, Karina Gould, accused Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre of lacking honesty. “It is not the case that the price on pollution is the only cause of inflation in Canada,” she recalled.
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Karina Gould
The carbon tax contributes only 0.1% of inflation annually, according to Bank of Canada projections.
She accused Mr. Poilievre of resorting to Republican tactics south of the border. “He is trying to create the same kind of dysfunction in our country that we see from far-right politicians in the United States,” she argued.
The maneuver follows the tabling of nearly 20,000 amendments on Wednesday as the study of Bill C-50 on just transition began in the Standing Committee on Natural Resources. The legislation aims to protect the energy sector workforce in the transition to a green economy.
Reminders of the regulations came from all sides Wednesday evening during the committee meeting which quickly became cacophonous. At one point, Bloc MP Claude DeBellefeuille was told to “shut up” by Conservative MP Larry Brock.
“Intimidation, lies, shouting, insults… Canada seems to want that. Not Quebec, which has the Bloc,” reacted Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet on the social network X on Friday.
“This strategy is far-fetched, is not effective and we see that it has diminished, I think, the credibility of Mr. Poilievre,” lamented the parliamentary leader of the New Democratic Party, Peter Julian.
He said overtime pay to House of Commons staff, such as interpreters and Parliamentary Protective Service officers, will exceed $1 million, a figure that has not yet been confirmed by the administration of the room.
Mr. Poilievre promised Wednesday to “ruin Trudeau’s Christmas until he abolishes the carbon tax.” He calls for an exemption for farmers, First Nations and families.
The new chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Cindy Woodhouse, who was elected Thursday, supports a request for a judicial review of the carbon tax by the Federal Court.
The Conservatives also accuse the Liberals of preventing the adoption of Bill C-234, which is at the final stage of third reading in the Senate. This Conservative bill aims to exempt farmers from the carbon tax for heating their buildings and drying their grain. He had obtained the support of the Bloc Québécois, the New Democratic Party and the Green Party in the House of Commons.
Wednesday’s adoption of an amendment from progressive senator Pierre Dalphond means that the private bill will eventually have to return to the House of Commons to be the subject of a new debate. As it is a private bill and not a government bill, it will fall to the bottom of the list, at number 30e rank. It will therefore take 30 days of parliamentary work before it is the subject of an hour of debate and so on until the deputies are ready to move on to the final vote. This delay means that it may never be adopted.
With The Canadian Press