Politics have shone through the Liberal carbon tax plan. Originally the Trudeau tax was to be applied to all carbon fuels in Canada. It had been implemented to meet Canada’s carbon reduction targets. However, inflation, and wars have driven up the cost of heating fuels across Canada. Yet now comes the twist. Homes heated by oil are now exempt from the carbon tax. The carbon tax moratorium on oil heat is for three years and with added subsidies for heat pumps conversions, The government hopes that those households will switch to heat pumps. Now homeowners heating with oil can now receive up to $20,000 to install heat pumps.
Statistics Canada shows that across Canada only three per cent of households rely on heating oil for heat. Two in five households in PEI are reliant on heating oil, while in Newfoundland one in five relies on heating oil, one in three in Nova Scotia and one in 14 in New Brunswick. As Prime Minister Trudeau pointed out, this cancelling of the carbon tax will benefit Atlantic Canada the most. In the Rainy River District approximately 100 households rely on oil heat. Many more rely on propane. The greatest number of households use natural gas for heat.
Atlantic Canada provided the seats in parliament for the Liberal government to retain power. Recent polling has shown that in an election, most of those seats would be lost without a change in Liberal policies. The 24 Liberal Atlantic caucus have created an outcry against the imposition of the tax. Axing the carbon tax in the Maritimes could help the Liberals remain in power at the next election.
It has become obvious as provincial premiers have questioned the removal of the tax on one source of home heating fuel while rejecting natural gas, and propane that is most common in the rest of Canada. Under the changes announced the government will double the rebates to rural homeowners.
The backlash has grown. The cancellation of the carbon tax on heating oil will not go into effect until January 1. Doug Ford the premier of Ontario has asked the Prime Minister to cancel the tax on all heating fuels and has even petitioned the Liberal MP’s in Ontario to demand the end of the federal carbon tax. The three western premiers have demanded that the carbon tax be removed for all heating fuels in their provinces as well. As Doug Ford said, “What is fair for one group of Canadian should be fair for all Canadians.
The premier is right. We should all be exempted from the carbon tax and both rural and urban homeowners should all be eligible to receive the subsidies for heat pumps.
