Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan said on Thursday that the cabinet would need to “barrel on” through public complaints about the carbon tax.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the cabinet faces a vote in the Commons on Monday regarding a motion to end the 12¢ per cubic metre tax for most Canadian homeowners who use natural gas for heating.“It’s hard breaking through regular everyday folks who are just having trouble making things meet and are looking for someone to blame,” O’Regan told reporters. Public complaints over the cost of living “totally exist within every riding,” he said.The Commons is expected to vote Monday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on a non-binding Conservative motion stating “That given the government has announced a ‘temporary three-year pause’ to the federal carbon tax on home heating oil, the House call on the government to extend that pause to all forms of home heating.”“People are anxious,” said O’Regan. “Nerves are rubbed raw. We’ve had a pandemic, we’ve got two wars happening right now. You know, people are just, their nerves are rubbed raw, and so you hear somebody’s getting something and you’re not getting something and even if it is just spin, it can resonate. So you just got to barrel on.”Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced starting from November 10, the federal government would temporarily suspend the 17¢ per litre carbon tax on home heating oil until after the upcoming election.Oil is a primary home heating source in Atlantic Canada, where the Liberals have a stronghold with 24 seats, including O'Regan's.“This is an Atlantic-heavy policy,” Conservative MP Arnold Viersen (Peace River-Westlock, AB) on Thursday told the Commons.“I was interested to see that when the prime minister made the announcement on the pause on the home heating fuel carbon tax in Atlantic Canada, only Atlantic MPs were standing behind the Prime Minister when he made that announcement,” said Viersen. “It was interesting to me.”New Democrat MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, ON) told the Commons that the cabinet “just undermined the principle of carbon pricing they have been promoting” since Parliament in 2018 passed the Greenhouse Pollution Pricing Act. “It would have been a reasonable suggestion to say we are going to take the GST off home heating,” said Angus.“Why? It is because it is not a luxury to heat one’s home in Canada, particularly in regions like mine that go to -45° and sometimes -50°. It is not a luxury.”According to the Parliamentary Budget Office, Canadians pay more than $1.5 billion a year in GST on home heating. The Commons, including New Democrats, in 2017 defeated by a 205 to 85 vote Bill C-342 An Act to Amend the Excise Tax Act to exempt the GST on carbon taxes. The bill was sponsored by then-Conservative MP Mark Warawa (Langley-Aldergrove, BC).New Democrat MP Peter Julian (New Westminster-Burnaby, BC) announced on Thursday that his caucus would back the Conservative motion to eliminate the carbon tax on home heating throughout the entire country.“We will be voting yes,” said Julian.“Does anything change if Liberals make this a confidence motion?” asked a reporter. “This is clearly not a confidence motion,” replied Julian.
Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan said on Thursday that the cabinet would need to “barrel on” through public complaints about the carbon tax.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the cabinet faces a vote in the Commons on Monday regarding a motion to end the 12¢ per cubic metre tax for most Canadian homeowners who use natural gas for heating.“It’s hard breaking through regular everyday folks who are just having trouble making things meet and are looking for someone to blame,” O’Regan told reporters. Public complaints over the cost of living “totally exist within every riding,” he said.The Commons is expected to vote Monday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern on a non-binding Conservative motion stating “That given the government has announced a ‘temporary three-year pause’ to the federal carbon tax on home heating oil, the House call on the government to extend that pause to all forms of home heating.”“People are anxious,” said O’Regan. “Nerves are rubbed raw. We’ve had a pandemic, we’ve got two wars happening right now. You know, people are just, their nerves are rubbed raw, and so you hear somebody’s getting something and you’re not getting something and even if it is just spin, it can resonate. So you just got to barrel on.”Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced starting from November 10, the federal government would temporarily suspend the 17¢ per litre carbon tax on home heating oil until after the upcoming election.Oil is a primary home heating source in Atlantic Canada, where the Liberals have a stronghold with 24 seats, including O'Regan's.“This is an Atlantic-heavy policy,” Conservative MP Arnold Viersen (Peace River-Westlock, AB) on Thursday told the Commons.“I was interested to see that when the prime minister made the announcement on the pause on the home heating fuel carbon tax in Atlantic Canada, only Atlantic MPs were standing behind the Prime Minister when he made that announcement,” said Viersen. “It was interesting to me.”New Democrat MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, ON) told the Commons that the cabinet “just undermined the principle of carbon pricing they have been promoting” since Parliament in 2018 passed the Greenhouse Pollution Pricing Act. “It would have been a reasonable suggestion to say we are going to take the GST off home heating,” said Angus.“Why? It is because it is not a luxury to heat one’s home in Canada, particularly in regions like mine that go to -45° and sometimes -50°. It is not a luxury.”According to the Parliamentary Budget Office, Canadians pay more than $1.5 billion a year in GST on home heating. The Commons, including New Democrats, in 2017 defeated by a 205 to 85 vote Bill C-342 An Act to Amend the Excise Tax Act to exempt the GST on carbon taxes. The bill was sponsored by then-Conservative MP Mark Warawa (Langley-Aldergrove, BC).New Democrat MP Peter Julian (New Westminster-Burnaby, BC) announced on Thursday that his caucus would back the Conservative motion to eliminate the carbon tax on home heating throughout the entire country.“We will be voting yes,” said Julian.“Does anything change if Liberals make this a confidence motion?” asked a reporter. “This is clearly not a confidence motion,” replied Julian.
