Trudeau Refuses Additional Carbon Tax Exemptions Demands

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s not considering other exemptions to his carbon tax after announcing a three-year pause on heating oil.

“There will absolutely not be any other carve-outs or suspensions of the price on pollution,” Mr. Trudeau told reporters on Oct. 31. “This is designed to phase out heating oil.”

The prime minister said the move targets this type of fuel because it is more expensive, creates more emissions, and impacts the more vulnerable.

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Heating oil is also used more predominantly in Atlantic provinces and Liberal MPs from those ridings have been complaining about how the carbon tax disproportionately impacts their constituents.

The new measure also includes subsidies to replace furnaces with heat pumps and a top-up in climate incentive payments for Canadians living in rural areas.

The move has been met with criticism by provincial premiers and the political opposition in Ottawa.

“What a terrible message this sends about how dysfunctional and divisive Ottawa has become,” she said on social media on Oct. 26.

This theme of divisiveness was also echoed in the House of Commons, with separate opposition party leaders raising it.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre asked during question period on Oct. 31 if Mr. Trudeau realizes “what he is doing is not just bankrupting Canadian households, 14 percent of whom are living with unsafe temperatures because of higher energy costs, but he’s actually tearing our national unity apart.”