A federal Conservative Leader sent a letter Pierre Poilievre to the British Columbia Premier David Eby, asking him to help stop a federal carbon price increase, but it was ignored by Eby as a “baloney factory” campaign tactic.
Poilievre’s letter, sent on Friday, urged Eby to join seven other premiers in opposing the April 1 increase, citing that the 23 per cent rise amounts to an extra 18 cents on a litre of fuel, which people in B.C. and Canadians can’t afford.
The one-page letter stated, “I am writing, asking that you: do not administer the April 1 tax hike. Join seven other premiers demanding (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau to stop the hike.”
Poilievre’s letter argued that the carbon pricing system set up by Trudeau is an imposition on the provinces that requires them to accept an ever-increasing levy. However, Eby, speaking at an unrelated news conference in Terrace, pointed out that B.C. residents would receive less money returned to them if the government accepted Poilievre’s request.
Eby stated, “I don’t live in the Pierre Poilievre campaign office and baloney factory. I live in B.C., am the premier, and decisions have consequences. The fact we face is that if we followed Mr. Poilievre’s suggestion there would be less money returned to British Columbians after April 1 than there would be if the federal government administered this increase directly.”
B.C. implemented North America’s first broad-based price on carbon in 2008 and will oversee the upcoming increase on behalf of the federal government.
Poilievre’s letter stated that people in B.C. and across Canada require relief and not tax hikes.
The Poilievre letter argued, “It makes no difference to the hard-working people of B.C. who administers the tax, they still pay it.”
The premiers of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador have requested the federal government to cancel the April 1 increase.
The planned increase seems to have caused political tensions between Trudeau’s federal Liberal government and the provincial Liberal government in Newfoundland and Labrador. Trudeau accused Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey on Friday of “continuing to bow to political pressure” with his opposition to the anticipated carbon price increase.
Trudeau said, “I think Canadians in Newfoundland and Labrador, and right across the country, expect their governments to do the right thing,” adding that the carbon pricing program provides more money to households in rebates than what most people pay out.
Furey, Canada’s only Liberal premier, has been fighting against the charge on carbon for the past year.
He mentioned that people in rural areas cannot immediately access energy alternatives such as public transit and electric vehicles on top of facing the burdens of inflation.
The carbon price is set to rise to $80 per tonne, up from $65 per tonne.
