Conservatives’ attempt to cancel carbon tax hikes fails in House of Commons

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Unsurprisingly, an attempt by the federal Conservatives to halt the carbon-tax hikes in response to inflated living costs failed with all the other parties voting against it.

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The House of Commons voted on the official Opposition’s motion on Wednesday after a lively debate the day before that saw the Conservatives and Liberals butt heads on whether the carbon-tax rate should be linked to the cost of living or to climate change efforts.

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The motion read: “That, in the opinion of the House, given that the government’s tax increases on gas, home heating and, indirectly, groceries, will fuel inflation, (…) the government must eliminate its plan to triple the carbon tax.”

Immediately after the vote, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre went to Twitter to accuse the “costly coalition” made up of the Liberals and the NDP of having voted to triple the carbon tax on essentials such as gas, heat and groceries at a time when families are struggling.

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The federal carbon tax – which is currently at $50 a tonne – was already set to rise by $15 per year until it reaches $170 by 2030 in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Other provinces have been allowed to use their own carbon-tax regimes instead of the federal carbon tax.

Wednesday’s vote will not change the course of action set out by the federal government nor would it have been able to even if it had passed, as such opposition day motions are usually non-binding.

Earlier in the day, Conservative MP Randy Hoback refuted suggestions that the party’s timing was irresponsible after Hurricane Fiona caused damage in the Atlantic provinces and Eastern Quebec. Some have suggested hurricanes will become worse because of climate change.

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“It’s not a climate debate,” Hoback told reporters on Wednesday. “It’s a debate on affordability.”

“There are natural disasters happening all the time,” he added. “Those are important too, and climate change is important. But if you can’t feed your kids, what are you looking at?”

His colleague Rick Perkins, who represents a riding in Nova Scotia, said that “the last thing” his constituents need in a time of crisis is more taxes as they are trying to rebuild.

“It’s actually the worst time to try and impose a tax,” he said.

Liberal MP Chris Bittle rejected those arguments from the opposition benches.

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“We are clearly in an era of more severe weather, we’re clearly at a time where we’re facing the effects of a climate crisis and the first act of the Conservative Party is to limit our response on pollution and make it free to pollute,” he said before heading to his party’s caucus.

Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson said that one had to be careful in pointing to a specific incident and linking it directly to climate change, but said that extreme weather events are indeed on the rise in Canada including floods in British Columbia or hurricanes like Fiona.

“Climate change is real. If we do not deal with the costs associated with mitigating climate change now, the costs in the future are going to be astronomical,” he insisted.

Wilkinson said that the carbon tax implemented by his government is not aggravating the high cost of living, saying that the system actually gives quarterly rebates to most Canadian families. But he recognized that affordability is an urgent issue on minds of Canadians.

“The government has taken action and needs to take action to address affordability issues particularly for those who live on modest incomes. That’s what we’ve done through the (recently increased) GST rebate.”