Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has put Justin Trudeau on notice, planning a non-confidence motion this week if the prime minister doesn’t scrap the impending carbon tax hike.
“Today I am announcing that I am giving Trudeau one last chance to spike his hike. One last chance and only one more day,” Poilievre said during a Conservative caucus meeting Wednesday morning.
“If Trudeau does not declare today an end to his forthcoming tax increases on food, gas and heat, that we will introduce a motion of non-confidence in the prime minister.”
The motion reads “that the House declare non-confidence in the Prime Minister and his costly government for increasing the carbon tax 23 % on April 1, as part of his plan to quadruple the tax while Canadians cannot afford to eat, heat and house themselves, and call for the House to be dissolved so Canadians can vote in a carbon tax election.”
Poilievre gave Trudeau until Thursday to rescind the coming hike.
“A 23% increase on your gas, your heat and your groceries, because if you tax the farmer who makes the food, the trucker who ships the food, you tax all who buy the food,” said Poilievre.
While the Trudeau government had promised Canadians that they would receive more in carbon tax rebates than they would actually have to pay, Poilievre used figures from the Parliamentary Budget Office to refute the claim.
“I go into this painful excruciating detail to debunk the dangerous disinformation mouthed by the Prime Minister and repeated by the media,” said Poilievre.
“You know what’s dangerous? Malnutrition is dangerous. When we have a government and state-controlled media that are telling people that they are getting more than they are paying when exactly the opposite is true, that means people in food banks. That means hungry stomachs in our schools. That means people suffering.”
The increase will bring the tax from $65 to $80 per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted on April 1.
Canadians will also feel the hike at the pump, as they will soon be paying an additional three cents per litre on gas, bringing the total levy to $0.18 per litre as of next month.
The increase will affect home heating as well, raising it from $0.12 per cubic metre to $0.15.
“We as common sense conservative are saying ‘no’ to Trudeau’s 23% April Fool’s Day increase. We are saying ‘spike the hike until we as common sense conservatives can axe the tax,’” said Polievre.
“Canadians are good and decent people. They do not have to live like this. They should not have to give up on the things that we all used to take for granted like affordable food and homes all for the ego and incompetence of one man,” he added.
“Life was not like this before Justin Trudeau, it will not be like this after he is gone. We’re going to replace the hurt that he has caused with the hope that Canadians need.”