Trudeau calls out 'short-term thinker' politicians as some premiers urge him to drop carbon price hike

As a growing number of premiers urge the federal government to scrap an up‐ coming increase to the fed‐ eral carbon tax, Prime Min‐ ister Justin Trudeau pushed back on what he called "short-term thinker" politi‐ cians and defended his gov‐ ernment's deeply divisive policy.

"My job is not to be popu‐ lar, although it helps," Trudeau said with a smile during a news conference in Calgary Wednesday.

"My job is to do the right things for Canada now, and do the right things for Cana‐ dians a generation from now."

His visit to Alberta to meet with Premier Danielle Smith, one of the most aggressive opponents of the federal car‐ bon pricing program, comes as most premiers have called on the government to either scrap the program or pause the increase scheduled for April 1 until inflation mel‐ lows.

He's also facing attacks from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who said he'll force multiple votes in Parliament next week to stop what he's calling "Trudeau's April Fools' tax hike."

"Trudeau is facing a provincial revolt," he said in a statement Wednesday. "But Trudeau isn't listening."

Trudeau showed no signs of bowing to pressure from the premiers or Poilievre.

"That's an easy thing for short-term thinker politicians to say, 'Oh, we'll get rid of the price.' They don't talk about the fact that they're also going to get rid of that cheque, the Canada carbon rebate, that puts more mon‐ ey in the pockets of the vast majority of Canadians," he said.

WATCH | Trudeau de‐ fends carbon tax as pre‐ miers call for halt to in‐ crease

At the beginning of next month, the carbon price is scheduled to increase from $65 to $80 per tonne.

The federal policy - which includes both a tax on fossil fuels and rebates paid di‐ rectly to households - was in‐ troduced by the Liberal gov‐ ernment in 2019 and is de‐ signed as a financial incen‐ tive to encourage people and businesses to cut their con‐ sumption of fossil fuels and transition to greener forms of energy.

Canadians living in the eight provinces with the fed‐ eral carbon tax receive quar‐ terly rebate payments which vary depending on the province and the size of household.

The federal government says 80 per cent of house‐ holds get more money back in rebates than they pay in carbon taxes directly.

"Those are cheques that the conservative governmen‐ ts and Conservative Party want to take away from peo‐ ple," said Trudeau.

"It's a way of both fighting climate change, of pushing for innovation and better technologies, and putting more money in the pockets of Canadians right across the country."

N.L. premier writes to Trudeau

On Tuesday, Liberal New‐ foundland Premier Andrew Furey shared an open letter to the prime minister saying that while his government is "deeply invested in environ‐ mental sustainability," the scheduled increase will add to residents' financial bur‐ dens.

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston also wrote to Trudeau urging him "cancel the carbon tax before any more financial damage is done."

So far, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan - which says it will no longer remit the mon‐ ey it owes for the carbon price on natural gas, as re‐ quired by law - Alberta, On‐ tario, Nova Scotia and New‐ foundland and Labrador have weighed in, calling for Trudeau to pause or cancel the coming increase.

British Columbia, Quebec and the Northwest Territories follow their own carbon-pric‐ ing mechanisms that meet federal standards and are ex‐ empt from the federal pro‐ gram.

Earlier Wednesday, Smith and Trudeau shook hands for the cameras ahead of a meeting. While Smith thanked the federal govern‐ ment for pushing through the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, she said Alberta and Ottawa still have major disagreements.

"An area where we don't quite see eye-to-eye [is] the carbon tax," said Smith.

"Seven premiers have suggested that we need a pause on April 1, so I'm very hopeful that we can maybe

come to some solution on that [and] address issues of affordability."

The government has made a concession on its program already. Facing pressure from within caucus from Atlantic MPs in the fall, Trudeau announced his gov‐ ernment will exempt home heating oil from the tax for three years.

Trudeau said the pause is meant to give rural Canadi‐ ans more time to switch to alternative sources like elec‐ tric heat pumps, but ruled out any other exemptions.

"There will absolutely not be any other carve-outs or suspensions of the price on pollution," said Trudeau in

October.

WATCH | Saskatchewan refuses to pay the carbon tax

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said his govern‐ ment would not submit the money it owed for the car‐ bon price on natural gas. He has framed the measure as a protest against Ottawa's deci‐ sion to exempt heating oil from the levy but not the en‐ ergy source used by most households in his province.

Failing to submit carbon tax reports or pay the amounts owed could come with consequences, including fines and jail time.

"You can opt out of the Charter of Rights and Free‐ doms by using the notwith‐ standing clause but you can't opt out of the federation. You can't opt out of Canada," said Trudeau.

"We are a country of laws, we are a country of rules, of responsibilities ... and we ex‐ pect people to obey the law."

WATCH | 'You can't opt out of Canada,' PM says to government of Saskatchewan