THUNDER BAY — The federal Conservative leader wants Northwestern Ontario residents to question why they’re not having the carbon tax removed from the cost of their home heating, when that measure has been extended to the east coast.
Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a three-year pause on the carbon pricing of home heating oil, which is largely intended to reduce heating costs in Atlantic Canada where the use of home heating oil is most common.
While that announcement was welcomed by leaders of the Atlantic provinces, it has generated a fierce response throughout the rest of Canada, with calls for the pause to be extended to other areas of the country and cover other heating fuels.
Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, who has adopted “axe the tax” as one of his primary slogans as he prepares for the next election, was critical of the approach in the House of Commons on Monday.
It’s only fair, he said during a Tuesday morning media availability with Dougall Media that had been offered by the party.
“What about people in Thunder Bay?” Poilievre asked. “Thunder Bay is cold, as you know, and the Liberal MPs have failed to give Thunder Bay residents an exemption or a pause on their natural gas and propane heat.
“Why is it that Patty Hajdu and Marcus Powlowski have not gotten the same carve out for Thunder Bay that Justin Trudeau has offered other Canadians in the east?”
Poilievre, who had most recently visited Thunder Bay in July, argued that the pause of the tax on home heating oil is an admission by Trudeau that the government’s carbon pricing approach is not an environmental plan.
“We need to greenlight green projects here in Canada so we can produce more emissions-free nuclear, hydroelectric and tidal wave power that can feed our grid with green, carbon-free energy and that can help power our economy,” he said.
“That will be a way of making carbon-free energies more affordable, rather than making traditional energy more expensive.”
Poilievre also put the blame for soaring food prices on the Trudeau government’s carbon pricing, insisting the taxes on farmers producing the food and truckers transporting goods adds up to shoppers paying the price at the grocery store checkout.
He acknowledged that many of the day-to-day challenges faced by Canadians across the country, such as the cost of living and housing, are more acutely felt in remote First Nations, where high suicide rates and unsafe drinking water are also major issues.
“I’m going to bring in new tools that allow them to collect more revenue from the resources that are harvested on their land, including even more taxation powers so the companies that harvest resources in First Nations communities can pay that money directly so the local First Nations rather than just to Ottawa,” he said, adding he would also look to appeal the government’s ban on long guns and greenlight resource projects.
“We’re going to ensure that First Nations have more governing control and make it easier for those that want to get out of the Indian Act to opt for that so they can control their money and their land with less bureaucratic interference from Ottawa.”