Conservative MP's hold 'Spike the Hike' rallies ahead of federal carbon price increase

Federal Conservative Members of Parliament are holding rallies outside of Liberal MPs' offices in opposition to the impending increase of the federal carbon price.

The carbon price, also referred to as the carbon tax, will go up by $15-per-tonne on April 1, bringing the total price to $80 per tonne.

The Conservatives have been calling on the Liberal government to cancel the planned increase, and do away with the federal carbon price system altogether.

Ahead of Monday's price jump, Conservative MPs are holding 'Spike the Hike' rallies outside of Liberal MPs' offices.

"Life is really expensive right now and the affordability crisis is getting worse," said Scott Aitchison, Conservative MP for Parry Sound-Muskoka.

Aitchison held a small rally outside of Nickel Belt MP Marc Serré's office in the Greater Sudbury community of Val Caron Thursday morning.

"I'm here to talk about the fact that the carbon tax, which is adding to the cost of life, cost of everyday life for everybody, certainly in my riding and I know here in the Sudbury area too, it's about to go up another 23 per cent on April 1. And that's just going to make life more expensive," said Aitchison to a small group of supporters.

Federal Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre called a non-confidence vote on the carbon tax against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government on March 21. The Liberals survived the vote in the House of Commons with support from the NDP and Bloc Québécois.

Aitchison said he has heard from residents in his riding and in northern Ontario about affordability concerns.

"It's really expensive to heat our homes. It's really expensive to fuel up the vehicle to get to work in the morning," said Aitchison. 

"And they are finding it more and more difficult to get by and more and more people are accessing food banks because they can't afford to, you know, put fuel in the tank and put healthy food on the table."

When it comes to the Conservative's plans for the environment without a carbon tax, Aitchison told CBC News the party will invest in clean Canadian energy practices.

"Our argument is if we made it easier for Canadian companies to sell cleaner Canadian fuel for the much higher polluting countries and places that need our fuel, need our clean energy, you're going to have a much bigger impact on reducing global carbon emissions. And Canadians will also have good paying jobs."

Greater Sudbury resident and local climate activist Cathy Orlando disagrees with Aitchison and the Conservatives plans to remove the carbon pricing system.

"If you're against carbon pricing, can you please show us your plan? Because the climate crisis is costing us a lot more money and will continue to do so even more."

Orlando attended the rally holding a sign in support of the carbon tax, saying it's important for the country's economic future.

"Frankly, there is no more efficient way to get our economy off of fossil fuels than carbon pricing," Orlando said.

"If you do not make polluters pay, it is very difficult to get us away from fossil fuels."