In a heated parliamentary exchange, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre mocked the Liberal’s Environment Minister for once scaling the CN Tower in an orange jumpsuit.
Conservatives and Liberals went back and forth over climate policy on Monday, with Poilievre telling the Liberals to abolish the carbon tax, saying it would help the Canadians who rely on their cars for their “short” summer vacations.
At one point, Minister Stephen Guilbeault said that someone would have to drive 44,000 kilometres before they paid more towards the carbon tax than what eligible Canadians get back from the Liberals’ carbon tax rebate.
Poilievre responded, “Canadians don’t want to put on an orange jumpsuit or climb a building, they just want to take their kids for a merciful break from this miserable broken economy.”
Guilbeault ignored the jab, sticking to his talking points.
The Conservatives have been urging the Liberals to scrap their carbon tax for several months, and public opinion polls show the majority of Canadians want it gone.
But other than one exception given to those who heat their homes with heating oil, the Liberals continue to express their intention to continue their pricing scheme that raises the tax annually until 2030.
The majority of provincial Premiers, including a Liberal one, have also asked the federal Liberals to drop the tax, citing the unfair effects it has, especially on people who rely on their cars for work.
Radical past
In 2001, Minister Guilbeault was charged for scaling the CN Tower, where he put up a poster that read “Canada and Bush Climate Killers.”
The twenty-something year-old photo of the Environment Minister, then-Greenpeace activist, handcuffed with a deranged smile, remains one of the more infamous photos in Canada’s political history.
The next year, Guilbeault trespassed onto then-Premier of Alberta Ralph Klein’s property and installed solar panels on his roof while his wife was home.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has also shamed the Liberal Climate Change Minister over his sketchy past, including the multiple instances when his climate laws were smacked down by federal court judges.
