Carbon price pause could become a wedge issue in Parliament. Here’s how

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he will bring forward a motion on Monday to pause the carbon price for all forms of home heating and not just heating oil.

The political fight is heating up over Liberal plans to pause the carbon price on home heating oil.

In Ottawa, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is pushing for the NDP to vote against the Liberal carbon pricing policy with a motion set to head to a vote on Monday to pause the price on all forms of home heating.

In an address to his caucus Wednesday morning, Poilievre pointed to the NDP governments in B.C. and Manitoba calling the carbon price pause for heating oil unfair. While the pause would apply across the country, Atlantic Canadians disproportionately use heating oil while Canadians in other regions tend to use other sources.

Both the Alberta and Saskatchewan NDP oppositions are calling on a broader pause for the carbon price instead of it just being for home heating oil, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last week.

“So, the question becomes, what will Jagmeet Singh do?” Poilievre asked in his caucus address.

“Will he stand with the voters who put their trust in his MPs in places like Timmins and other cold northern communities? Or will he once again sell out working class Canadians in order to suck up to Justin Trudeau? That will be his decision.”

The federal NDP leader has been calling for the GST to be removed for all forms of home heating, calling it a necessity as winter approaches. The GST is not normally applied to essential goods like basic groceries for example.

Jagmeet Singh says he and his caucus are still looking at the Conservative motion and need to discuss it more ahead of Monday’s vote. While there are similarities in his proposal and Poilievre’s, he says he has concerns.