OTTAWA — Low in the polls and staring down the barrel of an election, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault tried to make a case.
That case, which the minister outlined before reporters gathered on Parliament Hill on Tuesday, was a simple one: The Liberals’ plan to tackle climate change is working and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wants to cut it.
Guilbeault’s attempt came as Tory MPs erupted into cheering and applause in the House of Commons as Poilievre made good on his promise to try to bring down Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government by tabling a non-confidence motion to trigger what he calls a “carbon tax election.” Given it lacks support from the Bloc Quebecois and NDP, it is destined to fail.
Outside the chamber, Guilbeault began listing off the government’s climate measures by starting with the one at the very heart of Poilievre’s attacks: The consumer carbon price.
“I don’t know about you,” the minister said, “but (Poilievre’s) scare mongering about ludicrous nuclear winter makes absolutely no sense to anyone but him,” referring to the dire warning the Conservative leader delivered to his caucus about the scheduled increases to the plan before they returned for the fall sitting,
Guilbeault continued: “He should ask a family of four in his (Ontario) riding if the $1,120 this year that they will be receiving is helping them.”
Mark Zacharias, executive director of Clean Energy Canada, said the Liberals on the whole have “a pretty good story to tell” when it comes to the policy.
The problem lies in making the case on affordability.
“Where the federal Liberals’ government has not been able to crack the nut is in telling the story that the carbon tax makes 80 per cent of Canadians’ life more affordable,” he said, referring to the quarterly rebates households receive either by cheque or direct deposit.
The government’s message is “not resonating,” Zacharias said. “They are now kind of behind the eight ball in trying to get the actual facts out on how consumer carbon pricing works.”
The Liberals know it, too, and such is what Guilbeault tried to do on Tuesday when asked about its challenges.
He first ruled out the government entertaining any possibility of slowing down or clawing back the program’s scheduled increases. Nearly all premiers called on Trudeau to forgo the $15-per-tonne increase that took effect in April, saying residents did not need to be paying more for gas in the midst of a cost of living crisis.
Trudeau dismissed the call, saying they were more interested in playing politics than coming up with solutions.
Next, Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who also spoke at Tuesday’s press conference, defended the government’s decision to announce a three-year break on home heating oil last fall, following concerns it heard from Liberal MPs across Atlantic Canada about the cost, as a temporary measure to “address that one niche area where there was an affordability challenge.”
In the meantime, he said they are helping households transition to heat pumps. “It’s not an exemption, it’s a pause,” Wilkinson said.
That move, which was roundly criticized by climate policy advocates as well as by former environment minister Catherine McKenna, saw the government’s argument that low-income earners end up better off paying a consumer carbon price “thrown out the window,” said George Soule, former NDP director of communications and now a principal at Syntax Strategic, in a recent interview.
That’s why Soule said he doesn’t believe it would be wise for the federal New Democrats “to try to carry that water for them.” The Liberals are attacking NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh for not answering about whether the party will support a consumer carbon price in their climate plan.
“I don’t think the NDP knows where the NDP stands on this,” Guilbeault quipped Tuesday.
As for why the ministers think the Liberals own plan is not resonating with Canadians, despite repeatedly attacking Poilievre’s plans when it comes to the climate, Guilbeault said theirs is harder to explain.
“It’s much easier to say ‘axe the tax’ and leave it at that then to explain to Canadians, ‘Well, climate change is real and we need to be doing something about it, and this is one of the measures we’ve put in place and this is how it works.’”
“Like, you can say ‘axe the tax’ in 10 seconds. Explaining why we need to act on climate and how carbon pricing and the rebate works — it’s much more difficult.”
He added how the has the government has “shifted” how it talks about the consumer carbon price and believes more Canadians are coming to understand that they are in fact receiving rebates — an area where government has struggled.
“It’s a complex issue,” said Guilbeault.
“I’ve been working on climate change for over 30 years many organizations have been working to help Canadians understand Canadians are no different than Europeans or Americans.
“It’s a complex issue.”
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