Why this commentator thinks Justin Trudeau will have to “run away: from carbon tax

We know that the premier of British Columbia Saskatchewan as well as Alberta now Ontario are saying the Trudeau government needs to play fair last week the Prime Minister announced an exemption or a carve out of sorts when it came to home heating oil it’ll primarily benefit households in Atlantic

Canada where the use of home heating oil is much more popular and common Canada’s natural resources Minister though saying there are no plans to carve out any more exemptions let’s bring in scottt Reed CTV News political commentator we also know the premier of Saskatchewan Scott is now saying that the province will

Stop collecting the carbon tax if there isn’t an exemption to all forms of Home Heating like natural gas how does this play out what do you think is going to happen here I think the feds will have to fold uh there’s no coherence to the policy change once they created the

Exemption for Atlanta Canada you’re going to have an exemption for one form of Home Heating uh how do you rationally decline to do so for others I mean there are large portions of the country that are heated by natural gas or by electricity and um he can make an

Argument it’s pretty convoluted even in policy terms and it’s absolutely death in political terms you can make an argument that you want to incentivize uh conversion of particular forms of Home Heating but I mean ultimately the reason the government moved in Atlantic Canada is that when the carbon tax began to be

Applied in the summer their numbers went into the sewer and they couldn’t withstand that political pressure any longer and so they’ve made that conversion um and uh they made that calculation so they made the exemption um and they surely knew that this demand would follow um so I can’t imagine that

They will not have to give in this pressure and if they don’t it will only Mount and the incoherence of the policy will uh be laid even more bare we were talking to uh CTV pollster Nick Nanos late last week Scott who said you know the Liberals are at risk of 13 seats

Being lost based on his numbers if an election were to be held right now so there’s politics playing out here perhaps when it comes to Atlantic Canada as well you know how does the government do this without looking like they’re caving um I’m not certain they can do it

Without looking like they’re caving I I sort of joke you know there’s two ways to do this you can do a walk out or a back out right now they’re trying to do a backup well we’ll only make this exemption in this respect only for home heating uh uh oil in Atlantic Canada

Well obviously other parts of the country are going to want to uh have a a corresponding exemption and then after that by the way there’s going to be further demand and well why just home heating why isn’t the carbon tax being halted given the inflationary and cost

Of living pressures on say gasoline at the pump and so on and so forth I mean the the the question the government has to ask itself is having made the decision to move recognizing the political Peril that had placed itself in Atlantic Canada what possible logic

Is there for trying to hold the fort in the rest of the country and beyond that I think to be honest they were better off to walk their way out of this thing and say all right listen the carbon tax we’re going to have to uh simply put it

On pause uh for two three four years um until we can get our hands around this cost of living challenge that people are facing um we at least will not add to that cost of living Challenge and their choice was to do that or not do that but

Once they have did it in Atlanta Canada they’re going to have to do it everywhere else and they’re getting hammered on it by these Premier they’re now also getting hammered on it by Pier PV the leader of the conservatives uh I’m curious is there a way to sort of

Keep some of the carbon tax as sort of a key platform for the Trudeau government’s Environmental Policy but you know try to have a win-win situation or or is that even possible I think it’s very difficult to be candid with you listen you know the the carbon tax is

Not an environmental kite it is an economic and political anchor that’s the reality of it they’ve been talking about it as part and parcel and and Central to their uh climate plan for for years but now that it’s hitting and now that it’s biting uh the truth of the matter is

That it’s just really really really tough timing given the overall challenges in cost of living and affordability of the people are enduring so and I I honestly think that when you look to the United States and you look at Joe Biden I mean no one says that Joe

Biden lacks an aggressive climate policy it does not include a carbon tax I think the government has put itself in place where and it surely knew this when it made the decision for Atlanta Canada where it’s going to have to Pivot where it’s going to have to say the other part

Of that announcement that we’re going to actually make it free of charge for you to convert to a heat pump that those kinds of things creating incentives for people taking the burden financially off of them of being green of taking on environmental uh challenge that’s where they’re going to have to place the

Emphasis like the Biden Administration has that costs money but I don’t know that the carbon tax is sustainable after you’ve abandoned it at least in part in Atlantic Canada the rest of the country is simply going to feel absolutely AG grieved and this political pressure will only mount it will not

Recede does it seem desperate as well politically um perhaps but you know I’m sure Nick told you when he looks through the polling numbers their circumstances are desperate so they they have one big asset they’ve got time they’ve got this confidence and Supply agreement with the NDP that means that unless something

Goes sideways they don’t need to face the electric for two more years so if you’re going to say we’re uh to yourselves well if we must turn on the carbon tax policy how and when the answer to when is now the answer to how is well you can get draged there after

Having done a little bit of a runaway from in Atlanta Canada or you can walk up to a microphone and say we’ve had to take the tough decision and yes you’re going to get called desperate and yes you’re going to be accused of undermining your own Environmental

Policy but you’ve also got two years to add other things to that shelf to add other elements and policies to try to bolster yourself there but frankly right now the carbon tox look like looks like it is a dead dog political loser and it is not sustainable to sustain it in the

Rest of the country but not Atlanta Canada they’ve just they put themselves in an impossible situation they can hold their current we will do nothing else and nothing more policy it’s not coherent hey question for you before we go your thoughts on what might be happening the behind the scenes

Conversations within the the liberal Brain Trust right now that’s that’s such a great question Todd because I can tell you this has got to be a divisive issue around the cabinet table I mean if you think about the Trudeau liberals what are they about what is the fundamental

Feature of Trudeau’s policy since he arrived in office it’s been action on climate I mean that’s what the federal Liberal Party in come you know sort of to Brass tax these days that’s the fundamental driving policy you know obviously dealing with the the pandemic was you know the greatest challenge of

The prime minister’s tenure but climate policy been Central to it and um I think they’re arriving at the point where they recognize based on the decision they made in uh Atlanta Canada that they cannot sustain the carbon tax and expect to be politically successful that those two things are incompatible that people

Do not believe that the carbon tax is essential to fight climate that it will not have environmental benefits but it will definitely have economic detriments for them and so I think the government is going to have to uh face down that fact and that’s going to cause problems

Their environment minister is a lifelong environmental activist he is not going to like this their natural resources minister is a dedicated a passionately dedicated I Know spoken to him about this passionately dedicated advocate for these policies they’ve got themselves in no man’s land right now with the move

They made in Atlanta Canada my uh my advice is if you you you’ve walked away in part from the carbon tax now you should run away from the rest of it

CTV News’ political commentator Scott Reid breaks down the political challenge facing the Liberals amid a growing uproar over the carbon tax.

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