Roundup: A “pause” on carbon prices that hands Poilievre a victory

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Prime minister Justin Trudeau announced yesterday afternoon that the federal government would be implementing a “pause” for three years on the carbon price on home heating oil, predominantly used in Atlantic Canada, because he’s in some serious electoral trouble in the region. He also said that enriched carbon price rebates for rural dwellers would be on the way, as well as more incentives for people to switch to heat pumps. The problem? This undermines the whole carbon price scheme, ensures that it no longer is in compliance with the rules that they established, and it hands a propaganda victory to the Conservatives who are crowing that this “proves” that the price is making life unaffordable, and that they’ll kill it outright.

This also handed ammunition to Danielle Smith and Scott Moe, who will now be demanding that natural gas for heating be exempted, because now the programme is explicitly unfair. They’re not wrong, even if they’re acting entirely in bad faith over it. The NDP have joined in, also insisting that all home heating should be exempt from the price, which further undermines it. And you’d better believe that there are problems around the implementation of the heat pump programme, particularly how it rolls out to low-income households who need it the most.

The most galling thing of all, however, is that this is a victory for Irving Oil (and enabled by the provincial price regulators). They deceptively increased prices on their home heating oil and said this was for the “clean fuel standard,” which is bullshit. That standard is not a price—it’s an emissions standard that comes into place gradually, and any increased costs would be what the refineries need to do to meet those standards. This, however, wasn’t well communicated by the government, and of course the narrative got swallowed by the Conservatives calling it “Carbon Tax 2” and a poorly done report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer who framed this like it was a price, and so Irving was able to act in the way it did. And because it’s Irving, and they are more powerful than any of the provincial governments in Atlantic Canada (which is an enormous problem in a democracy), nobody challenged them on this deceptive price increase, and they successfully jammed the federal government into undermining the carbon price, so now it can be picked away at until it’s well and truly dead. Well done, everyone. You’ve just screwed yourselves, your credibility, and ultimately the planet. Slow clap.

Ukraine Dispatch:

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Wednesday’s drone attack near the nuclear power plant in Khmelnitskyi region was likely targeted. Ukrainian officials say the Black Sea corridor is working, particularly now that they’ve chased away the Russian Black Sea Fleet from occupied Crimea. Ukrainian businesses are preparing for the possibility of another winter of attacks on the power grid.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau met with the leaders of the NDP and the Bloc, as well as Conservative MP Michael Chong, to discuss the Middle East situation.
  • The prime minister named Alberta Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Mary Moreau to be the next Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.
  • Steven Guilbeault outlined interim guidance around environmental assessments until they can pass amending legislation to respect the Supreme Court ruling.
  • A bill updating how publication bans work for sexual assault and the sex offender registry has now received royal assent.
  • Ahead of the defence policy update, the Chief of Defence Staff says that China and Russia already consider themselves to be at war with the West.
  • The PBO says that extending the Canada Recovery Dividend to oil and gas companies could net $4.2 billion over five years (but seems to ignore the risks).
  • Provincial and territorial dental associations have written to the federal minister to complain that they aren’t being consulted on the dental care rollout.
  • The interim AFN national chief is warning that unscrupulous lawyers may try to “help” people with the child welfare settlement compensation for a cut of it.
  • Conservative MP Rachael Thomas said at committee that CBC is “on the side of Hamas,” which is unbelievably inappropriate, and she refuses to apologise for it.
  • Manitoba premier Wab Kinew met with the families of the victims believed buried in the Winnipeg landfill and offered an apology for how they were treated.
  • Paul Wells went to Trudeau’s fundraiser in Gatineau on Tuesday to hear how he talks to the party faithful, and what lessons can be drawn from that.

Odds and ends:

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