N.L. Liberal MP votes against carbon tax a 2nd time, says Guilbeault wrong messenger for policy

A Liberal member of Parliament has broken ranks with the government on its carbon tax for the second time, saying federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is the wrong person to sell the party's environmental messaging in Atlantic Canada.

Ken McDonald, MP for Newfoundland and Labrador's Avalon riding, voted with the federal Conservatives on Wednesday on a non-binding motion to repeal the carbon tax, the only member of the Liberal, NDP or Bloc Québécois caucuses to do so. Speaking with CBC News on Thursday, he said he believes the policy will cost the Liberals votes in the next election.

"Everywhere I go, people come up to me and say, you know, 'We're losing faith in the Liberal party," McDonald said in an interview with the CBC's Power & Politics.

"I think they will lose seats not just in Newfoundland, not just in Atlantic Canada, but indeed right across the country if they don't get a grasp on this the way that I think they should.… And if if an election were called today, I'm not sure if the Liberal party would actually form the government."

McDonald also said he didn't think federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is the right messenger for the carbon tax in Atlantic Canada.

"He's not, because he's so entrenched in it," McDonald said. "And I get it, where he came from, and his whole idea of making a big difference in climate change, but you can't do it all overnight. You can't make it more expensive on people than what they can handle. And that's exactly what's happening right now."

 WATCH | See why Ken McDonald cast his vote against his own party:

Liberal MP votes with Conservatives to oppose carbon tax

1 year ago

Duration 8:11

Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal MP Ken McDonald was the only member of his caucus to vote in favour of a Conservative motion to repeal all carbon taxes. He says the federal carbon tax disproportionately affects Atlantic Canada.

The federal Liberals need to look at it from the perspective of people in rural Atlantic Canada, he said.

"The government has to put a lens on it, a rural lens, for the sake of a better word, and try and come up with a plan that's satisfactory and appealable to people who live in rural," he said. "Maybe no plan will be appealable to rural, I don't know. But I think the government has to try, and if they do that, I think they got a chance of moving past it."

It's not the first time McDonald has sided against the party on the carbon tax. He voted against it in October 2022, prompting a standing ovation from the Conservatives.

McDonald said Thursday he also voted against the policy to show support for Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey, who has asked the federal government to do more to minimize the tax's impact on the province and Atlantic Canada.

Fellow N.L. MP says Opposition motion doesn't help Canadians

In Corner Brook on Thursday, Gudie Hutchings, Liberal MP for N.L.'s Long Range Mountains riding, noted McDonald was the only one who didn't vote with the government.

"The Bloc voted with us, the NDP voted with us as well. I believe in policies and private members' bills and Opposition Day motions and motions that are going to make a difference for Canadians. This one isn't," said Hutchings.

On Thursday in the House of Commons, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said McDonald's vote shows the policy doesn't help Canadians.

"This carbon tax is not worth the cost, and it's not just me saying it. The Liberal member for Avalon has said, and I quote 'We are punishing rural areas of our country and the most vulnerable people in society," said Poilievre, who called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to listen to Furey's call to "axe the tax."

Trudeau defended the policy, saying the impact of climate change is clear.

"In all the conversations I had with rural Canadians across the country this summer, they were devastated by the impacts of record wildfires, of floods, of droughts, of heat waves," Trudeau said. 

"They see the impact of climate change, and they know that we need to continue to fight climate change while putting money back in their pockets. That's exactly what our price on pollution does."

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