Trudeau and Scheer address carbon tax

Voters got a taste of the election campaign ahead when two national political leaders visited Charlotte County within four days of each other.
Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dropped in to the Garcelon Civic Center in St. Stephen on Thursday, March 28, to speak on the new national pharmacare program included in the federal budget tabled in Parliament on March 19. At least 200 people attended, most of them seniors connected to the St. Croix Wellness and Renewal Centre that meets at the civic center.
Conservative Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer spoke to about 150 people at Uncle Mayn's Convenience near St. George on a chilly April 1, the day the federal carbon tax took effect in New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, raising the price of gasoline, diesel fuel, home heating oil and propane.
Canadians go to the polls on October 21. Conservative John Williamson hopes to take back the New Brunswick Southwest seat he lost to Liberal Karen Ludwig in 2015 -- when the Liberals won all 32 seats in the Atlantic provinces.
Southern New Brunswick MPs Wayne Long of Saint John‑Rothesay, Alaina Lockhart of Fundy Royal, Matt DeCourcey of Fredericton and national Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor of Moncton‑Riverview‑Dieppe joined Ludwig and St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern in welcoming the prime minister. MacEachern joined mayors Crystal Cook of St. George and Terry James of Blacks Harbour at the Conservative rally on the following Monday.
Scheer asked to visit Uncle Mayn's after seeing on Facebook that owner Greg Hooper posted signs on his pumps, "Your gas is 5 cents more per litre now thanks to Justin Trudeau," according to Hooper.
Canadian prescription drug costs increased to $33.7 billion last year from $2.6 billion in 1985, threatening the more than 100 public and 100,000 private insurance plans across the country, according to the budget document. An advisory council led by Dr. Eric Hoskins filed an interim report two months ago proposing a single national buyer to drive down costs, Trudeau said in St. Stephen.
The Conservatives, however, are running against the carbon tax. The federal and most provincial governments agreed in 2016 to put a price on carbon dioxide to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, according to a federal background paper. Carbon prices should start at $10 per metric tonne in 2018 then rise by $10 a year to $50 in 2022, according to the backgrounder.
Ottawa said it would levy a "backstop" carbon tax in provinces that did not propose schemes of their own that federal officials judged to meet the requirements of the national program. New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario held out, so the federal backstop kicked in on April 1. The new tax adds 4.4 cents a litre to gasoline, and the harmonized sales tax (HST) brings it to a bit more than a nickel. The four provinces are suing Ottawa.
Trudeau pledged to return the money garnered by the backstop to the provinces in which it was collected, including through individual income tax credits and an increase in the Gas Tax Fund. Under the Gas Tax Fund, the federal government rebates fuel tax revenue under agreements with each province to build municipal infrastructure. The fund normally provides more than $2 billion per year, but the new budget proposes to double that for one year by adding $2.2 billion.
"We know climate change is real, and one of the challenges we've had is pollution has been free from meaningful pricing," Trudeau told reporters in St. Stephen. "The strong economy of the future requires us to protect our environment." He added, "The Conservative Party under Andrew Scheer demonstrates no intention of fighting climate change as a priority."
Ludwig hopes Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs gets onside. "I think having no plan is not an option, and if your plan is a lawsuit I don't think that's a very good plan, because what is that going to do to help businesses and the environment? The federal backstop -- at least it offers businesses right now some certainty, which they need," she said in an interview the day after the prime minister visited.
Neither Scheer nor Higgs were having any of it at the St. George rally. "We have to stand united on this because it isn't about the climate. We're going to meet the emissions targets, we all believe in that, and we're all going to meet our standards and emissions and exceed them, so that's not the issue. The issue here is not providing more money for Ottawa just to throw around and try to buy more votes," Higgs said.
"The Liberal carbon tax is not an environmental plan. It is a cash grab. If it were an environmental plan it would not have granted a massive exemption to the country's largest polluters," Scheer said.
Gasoline sold for 93 cents a litre, Canadian, in Calais on April 1, Williamson told the rally, while the sign behind him proclaimed 125.9 cents in St. George. "It means more people are going to cross the line to fill up and do more of their regular shopping in Maine," he said.
Provincial Minister of Justice and Attorney General Andrea Anderson‑Mason, MLA for Fundy‑The Isles‑Saint John West, introduced PC MLAs Gary Crossman of Hampton, Environment and Local Government Minister Jeff Carr of New Maryland‑Sunbury, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Bill Oliver of Kings Centre, and Social Development Minister Dorothy Shepherd of Saint John Lancaster plus the premier, as well as federal candidates Rodney Weston in Saint John‑Rothesay, Sylvie Godin‑Charest in Moncton‑Riverview‑Dieppe, Richard Bragdon in Tobique‑Mactaquac, Rob Moore in Fundy Royal and Williamson.
Scheer said he would release his own carbon plan during the election campaign. He said Canada should keep industries such as aluminum, rather than watching them move to countries with laxer environmental standards. Scheer said a Conservative government would remove the goods and services tax (GST), the federal portion of the HST, from home heating oil, costing $1.4 billion in lost annual revenue. Economic growth and better control of spending would make up this loss, he said. "We'll have a plan to get back to balanced budgets over the short term," he stated.
A national program to lower drug prices should help provinces, especially New Brunswick, deal with increasing costs of healthcare with the population greying, Trudeau said. Once Hoskins delivers his final report "we will have more to say probably in the election platform," Trudeau said.
This was Trudeau's fifth visit to New Brunswick Southwest since 2015, if you count briefly popping into a convenience store in Westfield, Ludwig said. After leaving the civic center, Trudeau ate nearby at the Five Kings restaurant, where he and MacEachern got to talk.
Aside from pharmacare and the carbon tax, Trudeau said his government put the age for receiving the Old Age Security pension back to 65 from 67. The Canada Child Benefit, which the Liberals put into effect, helps 7,000 children in New Brunswick Southwest, totalling about $48 million per year, Ludwig said.
Scheer said the Conservatives did not break privacy rules by sending text messages urging people in the four affected provinces to fill up before April 1.