Liberals Vote Against Studying the Effects of a Carbon Tax

OTTAWA – During the last House of Commons’ Human Resources (HUMA) committee meeting the Liberal members, as well as one NDP member, decided that it wasn’t relevant to study the effects that a carbon tax would have on low income families. The committee is currently conducting a study on poverty reduction and MP Pierre Poilievre had moved a motion that would have the committee study potential impact.

The vote took place during committee business on Thursday, Nov 3 with the conservative members of the committee arguing that, as low income families spend a disproportionate amount of their income on things like heat, fuel and groceries, they will be harder hit by a tax on carbon than higher income families.

“Over the course of this study we have asked groups such as Statistics Canada and the Department of Employment and Social Development if they have done any study on the impact of the carbon tax on the poverty rate, the answer has been, without fail, “no”. Why is the Liberal government unwilling to perform due diligence on how their policies will affect the average Canadian?” said MP Bob Zimmer, vice-chair of the committee.

According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the average Canadian family could be paying almost $2,600 in new taxes each year by 2022 thanks to carbon pricing.

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