Fighting climate change shouldn't come at expense of working class: Manitoba premier

Tackling climate change should not come at the expense of the working class, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew told CTV's Power Play on Monday, arguing that Canadians need flexibility in the face of high inflation.

Tackling climate change should not come at the expense of the working class, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said Monday, arguing that Canadians need flexibility in the face of high inflation.

The NDP premier also says the federal government's price on carbon, often referred to as the carbon tax, is not a "silver bullet."

Kinew made the remarks to CTV Power Play host Vassy Kapelos in Halifax, where the country's premiers met and urged the federal government to ensure its policies, including the carbon price, are equitable, especially with the country's ongoing affordability challenges.

"The single greatest threat to us solving global warming is if we lose the working class, is if we lose the middle class in Canada, and right now people are hurting because of inflation," he said.

"So we need to show flexibility, we need to show that a government like ours, which is committed to solving global warming, is not going to just put you through economic hardship without listening to your concerns."

Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his government would pause the carbon price on home heating oil for three years to make it easier for users to switch to electric heat pumps.

He said at the time of the announcement that this would be welcomed in Atlantic Canada, where a disproportionately large number of homes and businesses use heating oil in the colder months.