MPs are set to vote Monday on a motion by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to have Ottawa extend its carbon price pause to all forms of home heating.
The non-binding motion, which means it does not need to be acted on by the government, will have the support of the NDP, which has supported the minority Liberals in key votes through its supply-and-confidence agreement.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement last month that Ottawa would implement a three-year pause on the carbon price for home heating oil, which is widely used in Atlantic Canada, led to widespread criticism from premiers elsewhere in the country Canada, calling it unfair.
“Given that the government has announced a ‘temporary, three-year pause’ to the federal carbon tax on home heating oil, the House call on the government to extend that pause to all forms of home heating,” Poilievre’s motion reads.
The motion is set to face a vote after question period ends at roughly 3 p.m. Eastern.
Last Tuesday, Trudeau said “absolutely not” to the possibility of more carve-outs in the federal carbon price despite the criticisms of the heating oil plan. As part of the initial announcement, which Trudeau made flanked by Liberal Atlantic MPs, he said Ottawa would work with provincial governments on plans to subsidize heat pumps for low-income residents.
The Liberals’ 158 seats are enough to defeat the combined 142 seats of the Conservatives and the NDP, who announced they would support the motion on Thursday.
This means the Bloc Québécois could hold the balance in this vote with 32 seats — or abstain entirely.
Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Thursday his party has not made a decision on how it will vote but said a federal carbon price freeze would not benefit Quebec as that province has its own program.
In announcing his party’s support for Poilievre’s motion Thursday, NDP MP Peter Julian told reporters in Ottawa his party would be support the motion due to “equity.”
“We need to be the adults in the room. Given the panicked reaction of the Liberals, seemingly tied to their polling standing in Atlantic Canada. Given the Conservatives, for once, put forward a motion that doesn’t deny climate change, we will be supporting that motion,” he said.
“The motion today is for once not a crazy climate denying motion. It just refers to the equity of ensuring that takes of all types of home heating and in all regions actually can benefit from that.”
University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe told Global News last week he does not anticipate this debate receding as he believes the pause undermines the carbon price, a key policy of Trudeau’s government.
“Its core strength is in providing a uniform incentive to all individuals, all businesses, regardless of where they live, what sector they’re in, what fuel they use,” Tombe said.
“So, I think this is a move that not only undermines the carbon tax itself but changes the conversation around the carbon tax in a fundamental way that will potentially lead to more exemptions. And I think potentially the carbon tax itself, at least at the retail level, being removed entirely.”
— with files from Global News’ David Baxter
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