Scheer doubles down on carbon tax
OTTAWA• Canada’s new minority Parliament got down to work Friday with Andrew Scheer staking out the Conservatives’ ground as the only party that will unabashedly support the energy sector and never relent on its opposition to carbon taxes.
Responding to the Liberal throne speech that opened the new session of Parliament on Thursday, the Conservative leader proposed an amendment that would, among other things, commit the government to scrapping the carbon tax and stopping what Scheer called “the attack on the western Canadian economy.”
All the other parties in the House of Commons support the tax and advocate bolder action to tackle climate change, making it virtually impossible for the Conservatives to find support for the amendment.
Scheer, who is fighting to retain his post as leader amid heavy criticism from some within his own party over his handling of the recent election campaign, appeared to be comfortable isolating his party in Parliament. He was dismissive Friday of those who blame his inability to defeat the Liberals in the Oct. 21 election, at least in part, on his climate change plan.
“Over the past several weeks, there has been a chorus of voices from elite corners of Canadian high society demanding that our party endorse the carbon tax,” Scheer told the House of Commons. “Let me be clear. We will always oppose a carbon tax because we know the real cost it imposes on the Canadian people.”
Scheer, who represents a Saskatchewan riding, cast himself as an unabashed champion of the two oil-producing western provinces, which delivered all but one seat to the Conservatives and spurned the Liberals entirely. He echoed Alberta Premier Jason Kenney in accusing “a network of foreign-funded activist groups” of trying to block pipelines and “permanently shut down Canada’s energy sector and drive hundreds of thousands of Canadians out of work.”
Scheer laid the blame for what he deems is a “national unity crisis” on the environmental policies adopted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his first mandate.
In a later speech deconstructing Scheer’s remarks point by point, Trudeau noted that the Conservative leader bemoaned the impact of the carbon tax on families without mentioning that they will receive compensation from the federal government that, on average, will actually put more money in their pockets.
“If one wanted to truly bring down the temperature and the anxiety in the West, pointing out that fact might actually help,” Trudeau said.
Scheer has signalled that the Conservatives are unlikely to support the government on much, if anything. The Liberals will, thus, need the support of the either the Bloc Québécois’ 32 MPS or the NDP’S 24 MPS in order to survive.