Trudeau says he doesn’t understand why NDP is pulling back from carbon price support
The New Democrats are facing political headwinds when it comes to carbon pricing, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged Friday, although he doesn’t get why they seem to be having second thoughts.
The NDP has long championed the idea of putting a price on pollution, even campaigning on it in the 2019 election.
But this week, the party shifted its tone, saying carbon pricing is not the “be-all, end-all” and encouraging premiers to come up with new ideas to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
New Democrat MPs also backed a non-binding Conservative motion in the House of Commons demanding that Trudeau sit down with provincial and territorial leaders within five weeks to discuss the policy.
“It’s not a handful of conservative politicians and premiers that are going to turn me away from continuing the fight against climate change,” Trudeau said Friday.
“So I don’t entirely understand the position of the NDP and pulling back from affordability measures and from the fight against climate change.”
The Conservatives insist the carbon price is making life less affordable for Canadians, while the Liberals point to rebates leaving most Canadians with more money at the end of the day.
That has left New Democrat
Leader Jagmeet Singh between a rock and a hard place, Trudeau suggested Friday. “I feel for the NDP and for Jagmeet. This is a hard moment. There are political headwinds. There’s a lot of political pressure,” he said.
“I’m certainly feeling it, everyone should be feeling it, by folks out there who are worried about affordability, who are worried about climate change.”
But that shouldn’t stop the NDP from sticking to its guns on a longheld policy position, Trudeau said.
“I understand the political pressures on the NDP leadership right now and the challenges of holding an unpopular position, but doing the right thing should be something progressive voters in this country can count on.”
The NDP has not changed their policy, Singh said, but he wouldn’t say if he supports the federal carbon price.
“New Democrats are looking at ways to make life more affordable for people and fight the climate crisis with the urgency required,” Singh said in a statement that didn’t directly address Trudeau’s comments.
He also rebuked the Conservatives — accusing the party of ignoring climate change — as well as the Liberals, saying they are using the climate debate to divide the country.