House to Vote on Poilievre’s Home Heating Fuel Tax Exemption Motion

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre rises during Question Period in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Sept. 28, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

The House of Commons will vote today on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s motion to exempt home heating fuel from the Liberal government’s carbon tax.

Poilievre introduced the motion in the House on Oct. 20, saying that Canada “is the only G7 country to have raised fuel taxes during this period of record high global fuel prices.”

“Energy analysts have predicted that Canadians could see their home heating bills rise by 50 to 100 percent on average this winter,” the motion’s text reads.

The motion notes that one-tenth of Canadians heat their homes in the winter with heating oil or propane since there is “no alternative” available to them and that the federal government’s plan to increase the carbon tax in April 2023 will make heating homes with oil or gas unaffordable for many.

“Will [the government], in the spirit of nonpartisanship and compromise, at least take the tax off home heating—as winter is coming, as the cold is soon to be upon us, as Canadians will soon be forced into the decision between heating and eating,” Poilievre said.

He added that some Liberal MPs from rural areas do not support the carbon tax for home heating and he called on the government to allow its members to vote as they please.

Poilievre previously introduced a motion on Sept. 27 to stop the government’s planned increase of the carbon tax next April, but it was defeated the next day as the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc Quebecois all voted against it.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault criticized Poilievre’s now-defeated motion against the carbon tax, saying Conservatives are “trying to cancel the price on pollution.”

Guilbeault said in a Twitter post on Sept. 27 that cancelling the carbon tax would take away “hundreds of dollars” in climate rebates from Canadian families and also that it would “make pollution free for big polluters.”

In his new motion, Poilievre adds that the Liberal Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Andrew Furey, wrote to the federal government on Sept. 2 asking for a carbon tax exemption on home-heating fuels.

In a Twitter post from the same day, Furey said the carbon tax increase “would have a severely negative impact” on Newfoundland residents if it comes into effect.

“A year ago today, the maximum price of furnace oil in our province was 97.91 cents per litre. Today it is 155.70, nearly 60 per cent more,” Furey wrote.

The House is scheduled to vote on Poilievre’s motion today around 3:00 p.m.