(Ottawa) The New Democrats say they will support the Conservatives’ motion calling on the government to scrap carbon pricing for all residential heating methods until after the next election, the New Democratic Party (NDP) leader said. , Peter Julian, on Thursday.
Published at 6:06 p.m. Updated at 8:37 p.m.
Mia Rabson The Canadian Press
“The reality is that we need to ensure affordability is accessible to all Canadians and that is why we support this motion,” Mr. Julian said.
The decision is another political blow to the Liberals, who have been struggling for several days to defend their decision to suspend carbon pricing on residential heating oil for the next three years.
The change is intended to give people who still use this fuel time and money to replace it with electric heat pumps.
The heat pump controversy has heightened the Liberal caucus’ concerns about government decisions. Even a prominent Liberal senator, Percy Downe, this week called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to start planning his exit.
The latest controversy began last week when Mr. Trudeau suddenly announced a price break for residential heating oil.
Until last summer, heating oil was exempt from carbon pricing in the Atlantic provinces. At this point, all four provinces were included in the national carbon pricing system, replacing a previously applicable provincial version.
Provincial governments, as well as Atlantic Canada’s Liberal MPs, lobbied heavily in the months leading up to the July 1 change to remove residential heating oil from the carbon price list.
Oil prices have risen more than 70% in the last two years.
The Liberals initially responded by introducing a program to help oil users replace their oil furnaces with electric heat pumps.
The program, which covers the full cost of converting to heat pumps for low-income users, is open to all provinces that agree to provide part of the financial support themselves.
So far, this only includes Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, where between 14 and 53% of households rely on heating oil.
Last week’s announcement increased the subsidies available under the program, increased the carbon price rebate for rural Canadians and exempted heating oil from the carbon pricing policy for three years.
Opposition parties and premiers in Western Canada have lashed out, accusing the Liberals of regional favoritism to save their political skin in provinces where normally positive poll results have slumped since July.
Mr Julian said the NDP, which normally supports carbon pricing, was trying to get the Conservatives to accept a motion to eliminate the GST on all heating sources rather than the carbon price.
However, since this did not happen and the Conservative motion “does not deny the existence of climate change,” the NDP caucus decided to support it on grounds of fairness.
“We believe the panicked reaction from the Liberals a few days ago appears to have more to do with electoral prospects than anything else,” Julian said.
He argued that this has created a situation where people in some parts of the country will receive help to heat their homes during a “difficult winter while they struggle,” but that “other Canadians will not benefit from this.” .
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre tabled the motion on Thursday morning after his party devoted most of every question period to the issue this week.
“The Prime Minister has decided to create two classes of citizens,” Mr Poilevre argued during debate on his motion in the House of Commons.
While they portrayed this announcement itself as an “updated affordability measure for Atlantic and rural Canadians,” the Liberals now claim it is actually a program that will help people across the country.
As a heat source, heating oil is much more common in Atlantic Canada. In pure numbers, however, more than three out of four households that consume oil are not in the Atlantic region.
The price of carbon is set based on the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced. This means that the tax on residential heating oil is approximately 40% higher than on natural gas.
Although the carbon rebates are intended to offset the costs of carbon pricing for most Canadians, Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the rebates for people who use heating oil often don’t cover the costs.
Individual provinces determine rebates based on the total carbon price collected. They are distributed evenly among residents and are not based on the carbon price that each person pays individually.
Mr Wilkinson said that not only was natural gas much cheaper to purchase, but carbon price rebates were enough to cover those costs.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer’s (PBO) assessment of carbon pricing rebates compared to the cost of carbon pricing per province shows that nationally, about eight in 10 Canadians are receiving more than they pay.
However, in the three provinces where the share of heating oil consumption is highest, the benefits for a larger number of people are lower or non-existent. According to the PBO report, about 60 per cent of households in Nova Scotia are expected to receive less than they paid.
Atlantic Liberal Caucus Chairman Kody Blois told the House of Commons that no one can deny that citizens who use home heating oil suffer more than others.