Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s Spike the Hike — Axe the Tax Tour rolled into the City of Champions. Poilievre said the carbon tax is designed to concentrate control to bureaucrats and politicians and take it away from average Canadians. “It is part of a broader destructive agenda of big government and small people that impoverishes the citizen to the benefit of the state,” said Poilievre at a Wednesday rally at the Edmonton EXPO Centre..However, Poilievre said an outbreak of common sense is happening across Canada. Seven premiers and 70% of Canadians have called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to spike the carbon tax increase. While people are speaking up, he said they would not have had the courage to do it if it was not for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. He called on all Alberta NDP leadership candidates to write Trudeau and tell him to spike the hike. He brought Smith on stage to repeat this call. In response, he gave her an Axe the Tax T-shirt. Trudeau went on television and said the carbon tax was misunderstood. Poilievre said he had the numbers from the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) indicating otherwise. The PBO broke down the cost into three parts — direct, indirect, and economic cost. When all of these costs are added up, the average for an Alberta family would be $2,943. The rebates cover $2,030, providing a net loss of $913 for the average family. This amount would be higher for rural families and those who need to heat larger spaces or drive longer distances. While Canadians are struggling, he said Trudeau wants to raise the carbon tax. He asked how many families will be pushed into insolvency and bankruptcy over it. .The Conservative leader went on to say steelworkers should be building pipelines. If the carbon tax keeps going up, he said it would push more steel production outside of Canada to jurisdictions with lower environmental standards. This would cost Canadian steelworkers their jobs. He said the Conservatives would axe the carbon tax, reform the tax system, and cut the red tape to defend steelworkers. Rather than allow dictatorships to fuel the world, he pledged to prioritize natural gas production. He said Canada should be providing natural gas to the world because of its hydroelectricity to power generation, access to Europe and Asia, and cold temperatures to cool it down. He joked about how it was so cold in Ottawa this year that Trudeau was keeping his hands in his own pockets. When he is prime minister, he said he will approve more natural gas plants. At the moment, he said Canada has become unrecognizable from how it used to be. He pointed out it “feels like we’re a long way from home.” He painted a picture of what he wants home to look like. Children will walk to school with their parents not having to fear for their safety. Their older siblings will head off to university to study petroleum engineering to enable them to become the best in the industry. Pipeline workers will weld together new pipelines to export oil and gas. Seniors will leave the grocery stores with food in their vehicles and change in their pockets. A young couple will sit on the front porch of their new house with a Canadian flag hanging and realize they are home. Poilievre concluded by saying this is people’s home. “Your home, my home, our home,” he said. “Let’s bring it home.” .Conservative deputy leader Tim Uppal started off the rally by saying after eight years of Trudeau, Canada is not like it used to be “Pierre’s vision is to restore that Canada,” said Uppal. “His common sense plan is to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget, and stop the crime.” Additionally, Uppal said Poilievre will “bring home the country we all knew and loved and make Canada the freest country in the world.” He predicted he will become the next prime minister. The House of Commons voted 205-119 on March 20 against the Conservatives’ motion to scrap the carbon tax hike taking effect on April 1. READ MORE: House of Commons votes down motion on carbon tax increaseThe vote was split along party lines, with the Liberal, Bloc Quebecois, NDP, Green, and most Independent MPs voting against it. However, the Conservatives and Independent MP Kevin Vuong (Spadina-Fort York, ON) voted for it. “I declare the motion defeated,” said Speaker of the House of Commons Greg Fergus.
