Poilievre accuses Trudeau of creating 'two classes of citizenship' with home heating oil tax pause
'He divides by race, sexuality, vaccine status and now region,' Conservative leader says of Trudeau
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of creating "two classes" of Canadians by carving out a carbon tax exemption for people who use home heating oil while requiring households using other fuels to pay the levy.
Speaking to a Conservative caucus meeting on Parliament Hill, Poilievre said it's fundamentally unfair that a fuel source largely used by rural residents of Atlantic Canada will go untaxed during the government's three-year "pause."
"After eight years of Justin Trudeau, everything is broken. What does he do when the heat starts? He divides and distracts. He will once again tear apart the country, turn Canadian against Canadian. We know how he does it. He divides by race, sexuality, vaccine status and now region. That's his latest divide and conquer strategy," Poilievre said.
Poilievre put pressure on NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who is propping up the Liberal minority government through the supply and confidence agreement, to reject Trudeau and his approach.
"He's going to vilify people in different parts of the country," Poilievre said of Trudeau.
"It's being condemned by even some New Democrats. The NDP in Saskatchewan and Alberta have come out against the two classes of citizenship that Justin Trudeau has imposed with his carbon tax on heat."
"The question becomes, what will Jagmeet Singh do? Will he once again sell out working class Canadians to suck up to Justin Trudeau?" Poilievre said to applause from the assembled Conservative MPs and senators.
Statistics Canada data shows just three per cent of Canadians use oil to heat their homes.
But it's much more common in Newfoundland and Labrador (18 per cent), Prince Edward Island (40 per cent) and Nova Scotia (32 per cent) — areas that sent a strong contingent of Liberal MPs to the House of Commons.
Very few homes in Ontario (2 per cent), Quebec (4 per cent), New Brunswick (7 per cent) or B.C. (1 per cent) rely on oil.
Oil isn't used for home heating at all in the Prairie provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where natural gas is the main fuel source.
Rural Economic Development Minister Gudie Hutchings suggested in a recent CTV interview that the carve-out for home heating oil was driven by advocacy from Atlantic Canadian Liberal MPs.
"The Atlantic caucus was vocal with what they've heard from their constituents, and perhaps they need to elect more Liberals in the Prairies so that we can have that conversation as well," she said.
To address this apparent regional disparity, Poilievre said his party will introduce a motion tomorrow to extend the carbon tax exemption to "all Canadians everywhere."
The text of the motion calls on the Commons to apply the tax break "to all forms of home heating."
Poilievre said his motion is a "compromise."
"Let's make a deal. Let's pause the carbon tax on all home heating until Canadians go to the polls so we can have a carbon tax election where Canadians will decide between his plan and my commonsense plan to axe the tax," Poilievre said as some MPs shouted, "Let's go to the polls!"
Singh said he's not sure yet what his party will do with Poilievre's motion, which will be put to a vote next week.
"I can tell you, though, we absolutely think that the Liberal government's approach is divisive," Singh told reporters.
"It's unfair. Canadians don't want to pit one region against another. That's wrong."
Trudeau and his ministers have defended the pause as an affordability measure — a tax break to help largely low-income rural households save money on a fuel source that has become considerably more expensive in recent years.
The pause will also give the government time to help more people buy subsidized heat pumps, which are run on electricity.
"Home heating oil is dirtier and it is more expensive than other forms of heat and home heating oil is disproportionately relied upon by lower income Canadians in rural areas across the country who need more support," Trudeau told reporters Wednesday.
"Mr. Poilievre has no plan to fight climate change and therefore no plan for the economy."
Trudeau also has ruled out help for other energy consumers.
"There will absolutely not be any other carve-outs or suspensions of the price on pollution," he said Tuesday.
In question period, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said home heating oil is two to four times more expensive than natural gas and it's a major source of "energy poverty" in Canada.
He said the government is taking a "thoughtful approach" to climate policy — pushing ahead with a price on carbon while helping people who are struggling to pay their oil bills.
"It's appalling and a shame that the Conservative Party doesn't believe in climate change and doesn't have a plan to do anything about it," Wilkinson said.
The carbon tax is the cornerstone of the federal government's climate plan. It's designed to lower the country's carbon emissions so Canada can meet its ambitious reduction targets.
Supporters of the Liberal approach say the threat of climate change demands action and a revenue-neutral plan of this sort is the best way to shift patterns of consumption away from greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels.
Conservative politicians and their supporters say the tax regime is far too punitive for consumers.
The money collected is returned to taxpayers in the form of quarterly "climate action incentive payments."
Trudeau has said that eight out of every 10 Canadians get more back in rebates than they pay in carbon taxes. The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) has raised questions about that claim, suggesting most households will see a net loss.
The current federal fuel charge applies in Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan.
The current rate is $65 a tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions — a price that adds roughly $0.18 to a litre to gasoline, $0.15 to every cubic metre of natural gas purchased and $0.1238 to a litre of propane.
Under the current Liberal plan, the tax will nearly triple to $170 a tonne by 2030.
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