QP: Claims that carbon prices are the problem

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While the prime minster returned from his trip abroad in the wee hours, neither he nor his deputy were present for QP today. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he lamented that Canada is 58 out of 63 countries when it comes to reducing GHG emissions, that the current government has missed every emissions reduction target (not really true and the government Poilievre was a member of sabotaged any effort at reductions), then complained that the government was carrying on with their plan to “triple” the carbon price (it triples by 2030), and demanded a better way to fight climate change. Jonathan Wilkinson reminded him that Canada has one of the most detailed plans to fight climate change and that we will hit our targets to reduce emissions by 2030, while still ensuring that life is affordable. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his needling, and dismissed the carbon price as a “tax” that is being “triple, triple, tripled” (it’s not a tax and it’s not tripling anytime soon), and demanded the government get rid of the price. Wilkinson repeated that they have made enormous progress, started from a place where the Conservatives spent a decade doing nothing. After the Speaker interrupted and gently chided MPs to stop shouting, Wilkinson started his answer over again, ending on his reminder that eight out of ten people get more money back than they pay in carbon prices, and raised the announcement made earlier in the morning to help more people transition to heat pumps. Poilievre falsely claimed that by focusing on technology and not “taxes” that the Conservatives reduced emissions (blatantly untrue, unless he is referring to emissions intensity in the oil sands, which didn’t see the intensity reductions that they like to claim), and then repeated his claim that the carbon price is the real problem. Wilkinson needled Poilievre in return, saying that his lament about taxes is ironic considering that Poilievre spent his entire working life being paid by the taxpayer where as Wilkinson spent twenty years in the clean tech sector, and then stated that the carbon price is not the whole climate plan, it’s part of a plan that also includes regulation and investment, and ended that fighting climate change can generate prosperity if you know what you’re doing. Poilievre got back up to repeat his same talking points about missed targets and was concerned about Atlantic Canadians facing a doubled heating bill (which has precious little to do with carbon prices), and Lawrence MacAulay stood up, somewhat surprisingly, to decry that they had a prime example of climate devastation with Hurricane Fiona, and that they need to continue to address climate change like the government is doing. Poilievre fell back on the canard that the carbon price has failed to reduce emissions, and dismissed the plan to help people transition to heat pumps. This time Ginette Petitpas Taylor got up, and was “stunned” by the comments from the other side, given that she saw the devastation of Hurricane Fiona, pointed to a school in PEI whose roof was blown off completely, which is why the government has a plan.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and he worried about the confrontation with Xi Jinping and the allegations of Chinese interference in the 2019 election and the fact that the prime minister later said he wasn’t briefed on the matter, insinuating that the prime minister wasn’t honest with the media about the briefing. Marco Mendicino said that they had independent panels who determined there was no foreign interference, and they already passed interference legislation. Therrien worried that the confrontation was diplomatic incompetence or that the government is hiding something and wondered which it was. Mendicino praised national security agencies for their work and wanted support for their cyber-security legislation. 

Peter Julian rose for the NDP, and in French, he drained about corporate profits and accused the government of blaming workers’ wages instead of corporate greed for inflation (which is nonsense). Randy Boissonneault listed ways that the government is making big businesses pay their fair share. Heather McPherson repeated the question in English, and Andy Fillmore read the English response of the same response.

Round two, and Jasraj Hallan spun a ludicrous tale about the government killing the oil sector and driving up prices, which is nonsense, and demanded the carbon price be scrapped (Wilkinson: You are the only party who want it to be free to pollute; Duguid: We have the most ambitious plan in Canadian history), Shannon Stubbs cited bogus statistics about the carbon price and repeated the concern trolling about the price of heating oil in Atlantic Canada (Petitpas Taylor: As the minster for ACOA, I have seen the devastation of climate change and we have programmes to help; Duguid: We are going to help them transition to greener forms of heating), and Gérard Deltell worried about Guilbeault’s challenge to the world to implement their own carbon price (Wilkinson: We have taken measures to assist with affordability; Many countries have a price on carbon and it’s important in the fight against climate change).

Mario Simard wondered about the prime minister’s change of heart about Quebec’s data collection on healthcare and demanded a public healthcare summit (van Koeverden: Our government is ready to work with provinces because we want results for health outcomes), and he continued to blame the federal government for provinces’ problems with their healthcare systems (Rodriguez: The Bloc are trying to pick fights while we are trying to find solutions).

John Williamson selectively quoted StatsCan about heating fuels and griped about carbon prices (Petitpas Taylor: The Conservatives have their heads in the sand with climate change, and maybe New Brunswick should rebate carbon prices rather than keep them in provincial coffers; MacAulay: Anyone who witnessed Fiona knows we need to take measures to ensure we can continue to live in Atlantic Canada), and Clifford Small made a tortured Disney+ dig to complain about heat pumps (Wilkinson: We have taken affordability measures including accelerating the transition off of heating oil).

Alexandre Boulerice lamented Canada’s climate performance (Wilkinson: We have a detailed plan to fight climate change), and Charlie Angus demanded the government remove GST from home heating—which disproportionately benefits the wealthy (Duguid: We have been praised for our international leadership on helping developing countries with climate change).

Round three saw questions on listing the IRGC as a terrorist entity (Oliphant: We have a more effective set of targeted sanctions), Michael Chong complained that it took two weeks for the prime minister to say he didn’t get a briefing on alleged election interference (Mendicino: We are vigilant and an independent body verified it was a free and fair elections), Canada stopping the COP27 final declaration from demanding more action on fossil fuels (Duguid: I heard a lot of international praise, but we are doing more; Wilkinson: It’s important that we have a comprehensive plan while ensuring there is a prosperous future for Canadians), the homicide rate in Canada (Lametti: Reducing mandatory minimums gives judges the ability to make the punishment fit the crime without resulting in over-incarceration), carbon prices (Fillmore: The problem is not the price on carbon, the problem is emissions, and we announced a programme to help people switch to heat pumps; Boissonnault: Your party’s only advice for inflation was to invest in crypto), demanding acceleration on the disability support (Qualtrough: We have the ability to create once-in-a-generation change and we hope the bill will get swift passage), and the new oil exploration permits offshore (Wilkinson: We are entirely committed to fighting climate change, but there is also a transition).

Overall, the mind-numbing repetition of the same mendacious talking points continues apace, though I will say that Jonathan Wilkinson is far better at answering these questions than Terry Duguid ever has been, but even then, we still got some utterly inept responses from the government side. Because seriously, Duguid standing up to say that he only heard praise for Canada coming from COP27? That was pathetic. The fact that the two Atlantic ministers got up to join in the fray didn’t add much to the discourse, considering they are far less punchy in their responses than Sean Fraser has been when he responded last week, and they didn’t really challenge the Conservatives’ narrative. Not challenging that narrative allows it to sit there and fester, but nobody seems to care about this.

Otherwise, the government’s responses to questions about the alleged interference continue to be wanting, and the fact that we learned that the prime minister now says he wasn’t briefed back in January makes some of the deflection through a fog of pabulum that we saw last week makes more sense, but it didn’t get much better today with Mendicino’s return to the Chamber. Just insisting that the independent panel said the election was free and fair isn’t quite enough to answer the questions they should be, but we know this government’s inability to be frank about things in spite of the fact that they really need to be.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Shannon Stubbs for a grey dress with a chainlink pattern under a black jacket, and to Peter Fragiskatos for for a dark grey three-piece suit with a crisp white shirt and pocket square with a pink tie. Style citations go out to Alain Therrien for a black jacket with a white shirt, cream tie and grey slacks, and to Marilyn Gladu for a sleeveless navy and teal striped dress under a black sweater.

One thought on “QP: Claims that carbon prices are the problem”

  1. Thanks, Dale. I wish the Gov’t. would put out an ad re carbon pricing, aimed at educating Canadians. It is complex and easy for CPC to mislead about.

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