When you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation.
It’s an old PR adage, but alive and well in the Ottawa bubble — particularly when it comes to the Liberals’ attempts to rid themselves of their carbon tax baggage.
And there’s lots of luggage to dispense with.
Mark Carney, who appears to be the most likely successor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has been a longtime champion of a carbon tax. He’s called it a model for others around the world to follow. In fact, he’s called for them to be higher, saying at a World Economic Forum event that Canada is “a long way from where the carbon price needs to be.”
Today, Carney appears to be much more muted in his praise for the carbon tax. Supposedly, he’ll put this on pause until after the election. After that, Canadians should simply trust he will bring a stop to the very carbon tax he was key to starting.
While voters are right to question Carney’s newfound nuance on the carbon tax, the message from him and his Liberal compatriots is clear: They don’t want to talk about the carbon tax any further, and they think you ought to breeze past Carney’s decade-long love affair with this costly policy.
But Carney is not alone. The Ottawa media bubble also believes it’s time to move on to other issues. Radio Canada has suggested it is Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives — not the thoroughly contorted Liberals — who are “pivoting” away from the carbon tax as a focus.
The media and Liberals have declared that they are over the carbon tax, the Conservatives are silly to keep talking about it, and they don’t get why you’re not over it, too.
It’s textbook gaslighting.
Just because the Liberals would rather not talk about the politically toxic carbon tax, with which they are synonymous, doesn’t mean it has lost its resonance with Canadians.
Make no mistake, the Liberal carbon tax is still in effect — and, it goes up, again, April 1. Why would the Conservatives abandon talking about this looming cost increase, when their strongest value proposition to voters is cutting taxes and fixing the economy?
The carbon tax doesn’t exist in a bubble, separate and distinct from Canada’s economic performance. It harms investment. It makes Canada less competitive. It drives up prices on people, and hasn’t resulted in the country meeting our emission reduction goals.
Arguably, when our economic weakness is front and centre, the Conservatives would be wise to lean into the carbon tax impacts — not “pivot” away from it. Canadians are even more sensitive to the costly policies that have left us vulnerable to the whims of the White House.
The carbon tax, and its many Trudeau-Liberal backers, have played no small part in leaving us economically exposed.
The messages that Conservatives have amplified for well over a year are arguably more impactful today than before. We have a fentanyl crisis — which is why Conservatives have tabled policies that would stop criminal activity. The current government has created a hostile investment environment that hurts workers — which is why Conservatives are calling for better budgets that deliver more money directly to Canadians. The slogan of the next Conservative campaign is Bring it Home, which is particularly poignant now in the face of unjustified tariffs, with our nationhood being tested.
The Tories’ marquee commitment to axe the carbon tax is just as much about addressing cost of living concerns for Canadians as it is about dealing with the United States. The longer we have it in place, the more our ability to attract investment is stymied. The more Canadian workers will suffer, and the more they will pay for everything.
Mark Carney and the Liberals may deign to move away from the carbon tax, try to wrap themselves in the flag, and have the next election be about going to battle with Donald Trump. It is a battle that the media are all too keen to fight alongside them, enticed by the clicks that come with breathless headlines pitting Canada against our neighbours to the south.
But do not mistake Liberal political strategy as public sentiment. Canadians still have bills to pay. Cost of living and affordability concerns will continue to drive voter concerns. The carbon tax is just as key to our fiscal malfeasance as it always has been.
The spin machine is in overdrive, but the Liberals won’t be able to clean themselves of their carbon tax cheerleading that easily.
— Kate Harrison is a Partner at Summa Strategies, a lobbying and communications firm headquartered in Ottawa.