Scheer Would Repeal Federal Carbon Tax as First Act in Government

Repealing the national floor price on carbon would the first order of business if a Conservative government formed after the October 21 federal election, party leader Andrew Scheer said yesterday.

“Trudeau’s carbon tax is history by January 1, and we will use every legislative tool at our disposal to get it done,” Scheer told reporters yesterday in Brampton, Ontario, adding that he would recall Parliament to make the rollback official before the winter heating system got under way.

“In Canada, heating your home is not a luxury, it’s a necessity,” he said.

Scheer claimed that cancelling the federal carbon price would save the average Ontario household C$244 per year, while a separate pledge to cancel the federal Goods and Services Tax on home heating would save another $114. In fact, federal rebates are designed to leave most Ontarians with more money in their pockets after they’ve paid the carbon tax, and the provincial government of Doug Ford has taken fire for ignoring that offset in its mandatory propaganda campaign against the federal policy.

“Scheer also used the announcement to warn voters about the possibility of a Liberal and NDP coalition government—and potentially the Green Party’s participation,” iPolitics writes. “He said [Liberal leader Justin] Trudeau will raise the carbon tax, and his ‘coalition partners’ will force him to hike it even higher.”

Over the last couple of days of fluctuating poll numbers, Scheer has been arguing either that the party with the most seats should form the next government, or that it should at least have the first opportunity to try.

However, “in Canada’s Westminster parliamentary system, the incumbent governing party has the first opportunity to test to see whether they can gain the confidence of the House,” iPolitics explains. “Scheer clarified Thursday that he’s asking Canadians for a Conservative majority mandate but added that in modern Canadian history the party with the most seats has formed government. He also said in modern convention, if an incumbent prime minister enters an election and leaves the election with [fewer] seats than another party, he withdraws.”

But NDP leader Jagmeet Singh saw things differently.

“Sixty per cent of Canadians regularly, consistently vote against the Conservative government or a conservative party,” he told reporters in Welland, Ontario. “And so it’s wrong for the Conservatives to think that with less than 40% of the power or vote, they deserve all the majority of power.”