How big of an issue is carbon pricing to voters? | Power Play with Todd van der Heyden

All right where we did see the prime minister in something of a reversal on certain elements of his carbon tax plan uh the party is in trouble in the polls certainly in parts of Atlantic Canada not doing very well at all as we heard from Nick Nanos a little earlier here in

The show so what does it mean is this political panicking or not is this smart political recalibrating let’s bring in our MPS conservative Andrew Shear from the skatan writing of rean capelle of course former conservative party leader of course also liberal Scott Choice who Lo who joining us he represents the Nova

Scotia riding of King’s Hance and Rachel blay on the other side of the country she’s a new Democrat from British Columbia the riding of North Island Powell River Andrew let me start with you here what the Prime Minister did the reversal your takeaway well this is nothing but a

Gimmick to try to save a desperate prime minister uh nothing has really changed in the year that it’s been since liberals voted against a conservative motion to remove the the carbon tax from home heating except for Justin Trudeau’s terrible polling numbers uh liberal MPS lined up against our Common Sense plan

To remove the carbon tax from home heating over a year ago you might remember senior liberal Minister Sheamus oan telling Canadians that he was sick and tired of hearing their complaints about higher home heating costs so this is just a gimmick uh a pause for the next few years until after the next

Election when Justin Trudeau won’t need the votes of Atlantic Canadians uh but he’ll still need their money then he’s going to keep raising it the plan is for the carbon tax to quadruple people will still pay it on their on their food on everything they buy that has to be

Trucked in or shipped in from somewhere else in the world uh so this will do nothing for 97% of Canadians who will still be paying the carbon tax on their home heating and of course the second carbon tax which is coming into Force Justin Trudeau announced that he’s going

To continue with that so still lots of pain extremely little game gain and 97% of Canadians won’t even benefit from it so this is all about Justin chudo trying to protect his liberal held seats in one region of the country and I think Canadians are going to see right through

It let’s go to Scott bloy Scott you represent King’s Hance uh liberal stronghold you know for many years almost 20 give or take How concerned are you about the carbon tax though hurting your party in Atlantic Canada well first of all you can get my name right it’s

Cody blo but you might be thinking about my predecessor Scott Bryson oh of course yes who served years tell you what I’m here to tell you is uh listening to Mr sheer on his opening uh it’s no wonder why he didn’t become Prime Minister because the conservatives now four years

Later on from his election in 2019 still don’t have an environmental plan whatsoever uh I’m here to tell you that the adjustments that we made to the National carbon pricing plan uh yesterday was driven by the Atlantic liberal caucus and the fundamental difference that we have between the

Conservatives is we believe in the carbon price as an effective tool to actually fight climate change uh the conservatives don’t they want to get rid of carbon pricing across the country but offer no other details I contrasted that yesterday with the fact that today the announcement yesterday was about leading

On affordability but also making sure that we are focused on environmental progress and I just quickly want to uh talk about the program uh we doubled the rural rebates by the way that helps Andrew Shear’s uh constituents in Saskatchewan uh we’re pausing home heating oil across the country and of

Course we’re coming up with a pilot program to build on the national program that already existed in the fall of 2022 so there is federal dollars across the country to help people make this transition the difficulty in the Atlantic is of course we are uh really disproportionately impacted and we’re

Working in a way to help support Canadians and Atlantic Canadians at a time uh that they really need it Ju Just quickly Cody though what what do you hear from your constituents in your writing about the carbon tax what’s the number one thing that they say to you

About it we had uh a summer of absolute environmental challenge uh we had hurricane Fiona back in 202 2 2 uh we had the worst forest fires in the history of the country and and we had flash flooding that actually unfortunately we lost four constituents in my writing people believe in the

Importance of environmental progress but what I hear what I heard loud and clear far before July uh 1st 2023 and if you go check the hanser record I have been on record of saying that the intent is the right one but we need to make adjustments to ensure this policy

Resonates in Regional and Rural Canada and has more equity and that’s what this is about today it’s not a ret Tre on climate it’s a pragmatic policy to ensure that this resonates better across the country including in places like Saskatchewan and Alberta and in rural areas of Atlantic Canada and we’re

Offering solutions to actually help people get off home heating oil uh it’s a win for the environment it’s a win for affordability it’s a win for the economy okay to Rachel Rachel your read on what we’ve seen in the last day or so well I think it is really important

That we respect that Canadians are really struggling making ends meat is just getting hard and so process like this doesn’t really meet the needs of Canadians across the board the NDP has been asking repeatedly to see GST removed from all heating costs so for example in British Columbia

Uh carbon tax whatever you want it carbon pricing that is the jurisdiction of the provincial government it has nothing to do with the federal government but we know people are struggling everywhere across the country and as a person that represents a more rural riding we know that people in more

Rural remote especially Northern climates really need to make sure that they have housing heat and there’s a lot of ways of getting that heat so we’re saying take off the GST so that everyone across the country gets a bit of a benefit it will make a difference but

Coming from a province that also has seen huge forest fires communities completely destroyed by flash floods we know we need to be dealing with the environment and if we don’t it’s going to have a devastating impact on our local communities the economy and on people so we need to be attacking this

From all fronts which means serious action so hopefully we can see this government step up for every Canadian across this country really look at affordability and help people out in a meaningful way and GST across the board will make the biggest impact back to Andrew in Regina Andrew recent polling

From our pollster Nick Nano shows your party ahead by about 15 points right now still a long way away from an election how much of an issue do you think bigger picture this carbon tax is for voters what do you hear well we we hear all the time that

People understand that the carbon tax is not an environmental plan it’s a tax grab carbon tax hasn’t allowed the liberal government to hit a single environmental Target it’s set for himself so it’s really the worst of Both Worlds you know it it it it consumes a lot of the government’s main policy

Focus and it fails to achieve any environmental gain it’s it’s it’s it’s all pain and no gain and you know i’ I’d ask Cody why he voted against this very policy just one year ago if it uh you know the only thing that’s changed really in terms of the the outcome of

This policy is that the polling numbers are tanking for the liberals so that’s what’s leading to the about face and when it comes to the rebate the rebate works out to about 11 bucks a month uh on average across the country for the people in Saskatchewan and in Southern

Ontario and across the Prairies British Columbia that’s not even going to cover the GST that the liberal government charges on top of the carbon tax so you know we know that Canadians are focused on the cost of Liv we know they’re being punished at the pumps they’re being

Punished at the grocery store we know the carbon ta we know the carbon tax adds to cost all along the way it taxes the farmer who grows the food the trucker that ships the food the grocery that sells the food we know that the rebate doesn’t cover the entire cost of

The carbon tax Justin Trudeau’s own budget Watchdog said that when the Liberals calculated their rebate they ignored all the the knock on effects it only covered the direct cost of the carbon tax none of the cascading effects that happens when a carbon tax is applied throughout the supply chain on

Every single good that we have to have grown or shipped in from somewhere else in the world so and we know that Justin Trudeau will keep Rising it will keep hiking it the plan is for the carbon tax to quadruple when you add in the second carbon tax that’s coming into Force so

Uh every way you look at it this is a massive increase on the cost of living living for Canadians Canadians are going to food banks in record number we’re seeing sizes in grocery stores shrink for for products we’re seeing uh malnutrition rearing its ugly head in in low-income families because the cost of

Food is getting so great and Justin tru’s only solution is to you know offer uh nothing to 97% of Canadians and just a temporary pause with plans to hike it after the next election Canadians are going to see through this all right let’s go to Cody Cody there’s lots to

Respond there take it away boy I hope you give me time couple things that I think are extremely important is again as I said in Ottawa yesterday when we made this announcement the government is walking a careful balance between affordability measures by exempting the carbon price uh for

Home heating fuel it’s going to represent about $300 of savings for the average family in Atlantic Canada and of course those elsewhere in the country that also benefit from this program uh Rachel talked about of course uh making sure that we’re supporting Canadians across the country of course we’re doing

That that’s why we launched a 250 million dollar heat pump program last fall so there is federal money in every corner of this country including in Mr Shear’s writing where he should be directing his constituents to actually help make the transition of home heating fuel to reduce their energy costs and to

Be able to make savings and at the end of the day again I was I’ve been here uh in Atlantic Canada this is about my 10th interview and consistently what I remind Atlantic Canadians and all Canadians is that the leader of the official opposition has been in power now for uh

Over a year not one single iota of how he is going to balance uh environmental progress uh he’s shown no vision no plan and no ability to actually do that Canadians in this time are expecting uh affordability and environment to go hand inand and that’s exactly what the government offered yesterday of course

On carbon pricing itself uh the Bank of Canada has made very clear that it is a small marginal in fact 30 cents of a $100 worth of groceries 30 cents is tied to the carbon price uh so at the end of the day even if we head it the

Conservatives way and we cut it great 30 cents out of 100 there’s other broader affordability challenges and the government is looking at a variety of measures but on this one we’re walking a careful balance and I think we’re getting it right last word goes to you Rachel on this your

Thoughts well I think one of the things that both parties is forgetting is a big part of the cost of groceries is due to corporate greed we’re seeing or businesses like lobs bringing home an extra million dollars a year during the pandemic we saw a slow transfer of these

Businesses so the carbon tax is not what is creating this it really is Corporate greed so if we’re going to get serious about making things affordable we have to start seeing a government in place that will take on these big challenges and step up to CEOs who are walking away

With huge profits while the everyday Canadians are suffering so we need to get serious people are suffering and I appreciate that there’s programs in place for heat pumps and whatnot but if you are in a low-income you cannot afford those upfront costs so it really is disproportionately impacting

Low-income families we need to see actual action for them they deserve it it’s good to see all three of you in the meantime and thanks for taking time for power play Rachel blay for the NDP Cody BL for the Liberals Andrew Shear for the conservatives have a great weekend ahead thanks so much

A panel weighs in on whether or not the PM’s amendments to the carbon policy were a ‘gimmick’ to improve support in the Atlantic.

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