“Net-Zero Tyranny”

Jonathan Wilkinson, the minister of natural resources and energy, is not one to raise his voice. But as the Conservatives needled the government over its new carbon tax carve-out on Tuesday, Wilkinson started to get a bit shouty.

“Mr. Speaker, in the House, one thing is clear. The Conservative Party has no belief in the reality of climate change and no plan to fight it,” Wilkinson said.

“This government is focused on ensuring that we are addressing affordability challenges in a thoughtful way, while concurrently addressing the climate issue. It is a shame in the House, it is a shame in the country that we have a political party that denies the reality of climate change and is willing to give up the future of our children.”

OTTAWA — With the Liberal government opening the door to exemptions to its carbon tax, an Ontario Grand Chief wants it pushed even wider to a full exemption to the levy on Indigenous lands.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last week that the government would exempt home heating oil from the carbon tax for the next three years. The exemption will apply nationwide, but the benefit will mostly flow to the Atlantic provinces where 40 per cent of homes use the more carbon intensive fuel to heat their homes.

h/t Mauser

The NDP will be supporting a Conservative motion to pause the federal carbon price on all forms of home heating.

New Westminster-Burnaby MP Peter Julian made the announcement Thursday afternoon following question period, upping the pressure on the Bloc Quebecois to either support the Liberals in voting down the motion on Monday, or join the opposition push.

Be nice if they could goad junior into making it a confidence motion.

If the Liberal government was to abandon the carbon tax entirely, inflation in Canada would drop 16 percent, says Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem.

Mr. Macklem provided this information while testifying before the House of Commons finance committee on Oct. 30.

The federal government will not be offering any more carve-outs to the carbon pricing policy beyond the plan to pause the tax on home heating oil, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday, doubling down on comments his natural resources minister made.

“There will absolutely not be any other carve-outs or suspensions of the price on pollution,” Trudeau said. “This is designed to phase out home heating oil, the way we made a decision to phase out coal… This is specifically about ending the use of home heating oil, which is more polluting, more expensive, and impacts low-income Canadians to a greater degree.”

The affordability crisis is taking its toll on Canadians. Their money problems, as a new poll tells us, are getting so bad that they’re having trouble sleeping and it’s hurting their personal relationships.

This is why it’s welcome news that the federal carbon tax, which raises the cost on pretty much all consumer products, may finally be on its way out. Anything the government can do to make life easier, they absolutely must. It’s a moral imperative at this point. And anything they’re currently doing that is driving up the price of goods—like the carbon tax—is just plain wrong.

Political desperation can be a powerful thing, as we witnessed this week in Ottawa. The capital city not only put a hold on the carbon tax applied to heating oil for a duration of three years, but it also announced a doubling of the rural supplement in the carbon tax rebate program. In mere minutes, Ottawa not only transformed the carbon tax into a negotiable political lightning rod but also lent credence to those who have voiced doubts about the narratives surrounding carbon pricing.

Laurence Fox has been arrested for conspiring to damage Ulez cameras and encouraging others to tear them down.

On Tuesday, in an interview broadcast on video platform Rumble, Fox, 45, declared full support for the “Blade Runners” group of Ulez vigilantes.

“I encourage them to tear down every single camera there is and I will be joining them,” the suspended GB News host said.