NDP Reacts to Liberals' Announcement on Home Heating Oil

NDP Environment Critic Laurel Collins and NDP Natural Resources (Jobs and Just Transition) Critic Charlie Angus issued the following statement on the suspension of the carbon tax on home heating:

"Over the past two years, the rising cost of living has been devastating for Canadian families struggling to pay their mortgages, groceries and heating oil.


While today's announcement is a long-awaited respite for Atlantic families, New Democrats would like to see support for families in other parts of the country who are struggling to make ends meet. The Liberals seem to be choosing the people they help based on their own political interests, leaving families in Northern Ontario, Alberta and other parts of the country behind. For months, the NDP has been urging the Liberals to remove the GST on heating oil in order to ease the bills of Canadian workers. We would also like to see programs such as the one put in place today to provide low-income families with access to heat pumps expanded.


Instead of taking care of the people, Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have, for the past eight years, let the wealthy CEOs of oil and gas companies get away with giving them carbon tax exemptions, while offloading the costs onto Canadian taxpayers who are desperately trying to follow suit.


At the same time, the climate crisis is taking a new turn: this summer, Canadians are being forced to flee their homes and cut off from their communities by wildfires. People are looking to the government to take action to combat this crisis.


But instead, Justin Trudeau is dragging things out and handing out money to Canada's biggest polluters. If Justin Trudeau had made the necessary investments in energy efficiency, electrification and clean energy years ago instead of handing out billions to big oil companies, Canadian taxpayers would have already seen their energy bills go down. And while Pierre Poilievre claims to be defending the interests of Canadians, we see that he prefers to favour the wealthy CEOs of the oil sector even more, laying off thousands of workers and failing to improve the living conditions of the working population.


New Democrats know that we need strong climate action and that Canadians need more support to get the things they need to provide for their families. That's why we're urging the government to close the loopholes it is giving big oil and gas companies and hold them to pay their share."