Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said on Monday, November 6, 2023, he will not stand for any further adjustments to Canada's carbon-pricing system as a Conservative motion calling for more carve-outs failed in the House of Commons.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s symbolic motion calling for more carbon tax carveouts was defeated, but this won’t end the polarizing debate that centres on equity.
On Monday, Bloc Québécois MPs will decide the fate of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s motion to exempt all fuel for home heating from the carbon price. The motion is non-binding but is significant because it serves to keep the hot-button carbon tax debate alive and in the public eye.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre tabled the motion, insisting the government's decision last week to temporarily pause carbon pricing for home heating oil for three years is a divisive policy to save Liberal seats in Atlantic Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced a second day of criticism over the carbon tax carveout but resolved there will be no similar breaks for other provinces.
“We are still waiting for any kind of climate plan from Pierre Poilievre,” said Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault in an emailed statement to Canada’s National Observer. “While the Conservative party still debates whether climate change is real, the world is on fire,” the statement reads.
Starting Saturday, July 1, 2023, the federal government's long-promised clean fuel regulations take effect across Canada. Here are five things to know about what they are, how they will affect you and why they are different from the carbon price.
The new numbers have been in development for months but come after a recent report from the parliamentary budget officer on the economic costs of the carbon price. That report did not specifically equate the cost of the price on carbon to the costs of climate change itself.