In an explosive move, Pierre Poilievre is urging Canadians to take to the streets and protest Justin Trudeau’s looming carbon tax hike. The Conservative leader is openly calling for mass demonstrations to kill the tax increase slated for April 1st.
At a raucous Etobicoke rally, Poilievre exhorted over 3,000 cheering supporters to mobilize against the tax through letters, office sit-ins and social media blitzes aimed at swaying Liberal and NDP MPs.
Poilievre wants a tidal wave of outrage flooding MPs’ inboxes to force them to join Conservatives in blocking the tax. He slams the increase as an economy-crushing blow targeting small businesses, farmers and families.
Poilievre’s provocative call for protests underscores his pugnacious style in taking the fight to the Liberal government.
Already riding high in polls, the Conservative leader is further energizing his base by demanding they take action through in-your-face demonstrations. His confrontational stance signals no retreat in his efforts to axe the tax.
Pierre Poilivere is calling for all Canadians to protest and pressure Liberal MPs to axe the carbon tax intended for April 1st. With no elections in sight, a rally in Etobicoke garnered a crowd of nearly 3,000 people revealing a populist movement led by Poliievre against the Liberal factions.
This movement is waging war against the carbon tax, as it will directly affect small and medium enterprises, local farmers, and businesses as the backbone of their system for product delivery is operated using fossil fuels.
The Conservatives launched a new anti-carbon tax campaign, calling on Canadians to protest and pressure their Liberal and NDP Members of Parliament to oppose the scheduled April 1 increase to the tax. Under the planned hike, the carbon tax will rise from $65 to $80 per tonne emitted, representing a 23% spike all at once.
On April 1, the Trudeau government intends to raise the carbon tax by 17 cents per liter of gas, 21 cents per liter of diesel, and 15 cents per cubic meter of natural gas. But a recent Leger poll found 7 in 10 Canadians oppose the tax increase, spanning all regions and demographics.
“The poll is clear: the vast majority of Canadians, across every province and all demographics, oppose the upcoming federal carbon tax hike,” noted Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Justin Trudeau claims the tax is essential to meeting Canada’s emissions targets. He brands Conservative opponents as “climate change deniers” unwilling to take global warming seriously. Yet beyond rallying his progressive base, the carbon tax seems to offer diminishing political returns for Trudeau.
Several Conservative provincial leaders have resisted the tax as well. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe announced he will cease all carbon tax collections and transfers to Ottawa. Yet the tax remains in place for now, prompting Poilievre’s escalating efforts to stoke public opposition.
Prince Edward Island’s premier, Dennis King, has requested that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau call off a planned increase to the federal carbon tax set to take effect on April 1st. In a recent letter to the prime minister, King expressed concern that the scheduled hike would hurt Islanders by further increasing their already high cost of living.
The impending carbon tax increase would add an additional 3.5 cents per liter to the price of regular gasoline and 4 cents per liter to the cost of diesel fuel.
King wrote in his letter that “further driving up costs for Island households by increasing the price of carbon in April…will create an untenable situation for many P.E.I. residents, especially our most vulnerable who will feel the economy-wide price increases.” He urged the federal government to “urgently act and revisit any further increase” given the April 1st deadline is fast approaching.
The federal carbon levy was first introduced in Prince Edward Island in 2022 after plans submitted by the province to put a price on carbon fell short of Ottawa’s minimum benchmark for emissions reduction.
With this upcoming tax hike, the total carbon tax applied to fuel in P.E.I. would be 23 cents per liter for gasoline and 26.6 cents per liter for diesel. During Friday’s question period in the provincial legislature, King argued that the carbon tax disproportionately impacts P.E.I. more than other provinces because of the Island’s dependence on imported goods arriving via diesel trucks and ferries.
He noted that increasing fuel costs for deliveries inevitably leads to higher prices for consumers on goods, services, and food. King stated that the lack of transportation alternatives coupled with the continually rising fuel prices makes the tax “punitive and unfair” for Island residents.
The federal government has yet to respond to Premier King’s request to cancel the scheduled carbon tax increase. The issue highlights the tensions between provincial and federal authorities when implementing national climate policies in unique regional contexts like Prince Edward Island.
Poilievre then laid out plans for a “massive pressure campaign” to eliminate the tax once and for all. He urged supporters to write letters pressing their Liberal and NDP MPs to join Conservatives in reversing the tax, organize local protests outside constituency offices, flood MPs with phone calls, and blanket social media with anti-tax messaging aimed at rallying the public.
“April 1st, April Fools and with Justin Trudeau and the NDP, the joke is on you,” Poilievre declared, eliciting raucous cheers from attendees.
Newly elected Conservative MP Jamil Jivani, fresh off his dominant byelection victory in Durham, Ontario, introduced Poilievre along with the Conservative leader’s wife, Ana.
Both received enthusiastic standing ovations from the crowd, but all eyes remained glued on Poilievre as he launched into a nearly 40-minute speech hammering the carbon tax and laying out Conservative plans to tackle issues like housing affordability, criminal justice reform, resource development, and reforming Canadian foreign aid.
At one point, Poilievre acknowledged former Liberal MP John Nunziata in the audience, drawing attention to Nunziata’s support for Poilievre and the Conservatives. First elected in 1984 as part of Brian Mulroney’s massive sweep, Nunziata served as an MP until 2000, though he left the Liberal Party in 1996 over broken promises around the Goods and Services Tax.
“We’re promoting you every day,” Nunziata told Poilievre during the speech. “We’re welcoming all those common-sense Liberals into our party,” Poilievre responded, underscoring his efforts to broaden the Conservative base.
Recent opinion polls signal Poilievre’s message resonating with not just traditional Conservative voters, but disillusioned former Liberal supporters as well.
An Angus Reid poll gave the Conservatives a commanding 17-point nationwide lead over the Liberals, while Abacus Data found an 18-point gap between the two parties. The Durham byelection saw Conservative candidate Jamil Jivani trounce his Liberal opponent 57% to 22% as NDP support cratered to just 10% of the vote.
The scale of the Liberal collapse shocked many observers and confirmed the party’s deep troubles, especially in contrast to Poilievre’s soaring fortunes.
As Poilievre slammed the carbon tax, he noted how it hurts Canadian industries and farmers while favoring imported products not subject to the same tax burden.
He explained that many of the Canadian products that are intertwined with carbon emissions will face a huge competition as foreign products do not pay carbon tax, which instills that these foreign products will be way cheaper as they will not pay the tax.
The swell of support propelling Poilievre stems from mounting voter fatigue with Justin Trudeau’s scandal-plagued government. But thanks to the Liberal coalition deal with the NDP, Canadians may need to wait until October 2025 for a chance to change governments rather than getting the fresh start they want and need now.
Poilievre offers a clear change agenda while Trudeau clings to power only through Singh’s assistance propping up the NDP. Canadians crave real change today, but Trudeau seems determined to hold on as long as he can.
