The New Democrats intend to back the Conservatives on a motion to pull the carbon price off all home heating until after the next election, NDP House Leader Peter Julian said on Nov. 2.
“The reality is we need to make sure that affordability is available to all Canadians and that’s why we’re supporting this motion,” said Mr. Julian.
The decision delivers another political blow to the Liberals, who have been scrambling for days to defend their decision to pause the carbon price on home heating oil for the next three years.
The change is intended to give people who still use that fuel the time and money that is needed to replace it with electric heat pumps.
The heating pump controversy has added to concerns within the Liberal caucus about the government’s decisions. Even a prominent Liberal senator, Percy Downe, called this week for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to begin planning his exit.
Mr. Trudeau dismissed that on Nov. 2, pretending at first that he didn’t even know who reporters were asking about.
“Oh, Percy. Oh yeah, how’s he doing?” he said, with a grin.
Reporters pushed for an answer, saying Mr. Downe wanted Mr. Trudeau to resign.
“Oh, well, I wish him all the best in the work that he’s doing,” the prime minister said.
The latest controversy kicked off last week when Mr. Trudeau suddenly announced the home heating oil pause.
Home heating oil had been exempt from carbon pricing in Atlantic Canada until this past summer. That’s when the four provinces were added to the national carbon pricing system, replacing a provincial version that had previously been in place.
Provincial governments, along with Atlantic Liberal MPs, lobbied hard in the months leading up to the July 1 change to keep home heating oil off the carbon price list.
The cost of the oil itself has risen more than 70 percent in the last two years.
The federal Liberals initially responded with a program to help heating oil users replace their oil furnaces with electric heat pumps.
The program, which for low-income users would cover the entire cost of switching to heat pumps, is available to all provinces that agree to put up some of the financial support themselves.
Thus far, the only ones to do so are Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, where between 14 and 53 percent of households rely on heating oil.
The announcement last week increased the grants available under that program, increased the carbon price rebate given to rural Canadians, and exempted heating oil from falling under the carbon-pricing policy for three years.
Opposition parties and Western premiers cried foul, accusing the Liberals of regional favouritism to save their political skin in provinces where their usually rosy polling numbers have cratered since July.
Mr. Julian said that the NDP, which usually supports carbon pricing, tried to get the Conservatives to agree to a motion to pull the GST off all heating sources, rather than the carbon price.
But when that didn’t happen, and since the Conservative motion “doesn’t deny climate change” exists, the NDP caucus decided to support the motion out of a sense of fairness.
“We believe that the panicked reaction of Liberals a few days ago, it seemed to be tied to electoral chances more than anything else,” Mr. Julian said.
He said it created a situation in which people in some parts of the country will receive help to keep their homes heated in a “difficult winter while they’re struggling”—but “other Canadians wouldn’t benefit from that.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre tabled the motion on the morning of Nov. 2, after his party spent most of every question period throughout the week on the matter.
“The prime minister has decided to create two classes of citizens,” Mr. Poilevre said, debating his motion in the House of Commons.
While they themselves billed the announcement as an “update on affordability measures for Atlantic and rural Canadians,” the Liberals now say it’s really a program that helps people across the country.
As a share of all heat sources, heating oil is far more prevalent in Atlantic Canada. But in raw numbers, more than three in four households that use the oil are not in the Atlantic.
Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan said it’s not just an Atlantic Canadian issue, and there are many times when government programs seek to solve inequities that are more acute in some places than others.
“This country is built on carve-outs and pauses and compromises,” he said. “That’s the only way this country runs.”
