The Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador is taking issue with a looming increase in federal carbon pricing planned by the Liberal government.
In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent today, Andrew Furey called for restraint.
At issue is a scheduled April 1 increase in the price of carbon pollution by $15 a tonne as part of a plan to keep increasing the price until 2030.
Furey, a Liberal, said the measure is “causing understandable worry” as people consider how they will manage the “mounting financial strain.”
“We ask for the collaboration of the federal government to address the ramifications of the current challenges families face and not compound them,” Furey wrote.
“I respectfully request that you consider pausing the implementation of the April 1st carbon tax increase – at least until inflation subsides, interest rates lower and related economic pressures on the cost of living sufficiently cool.”
Furey has long been critical of federal carbon pricing, expressing concerns about a disproportionate effect on rural Canadians.
The federal Conservatives led by Pierre Poilievre have also been sharply critical of carbon pricing in general and the looming increase in particular.
More than 2,000 people reportedly attending a Sunday rally in the Toronto-area community of Etobicoke convened to protest the pricing hike.
In a posting on social-media platform X today, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a Progressive Conservative, wrote that he couldn’t agree more with Furey and that the federal government needs to end the carbon tax. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, leader of her province’s United Conservative Party, also offered her support on X, saying her province stands with Newfoundland.
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
Former prosecutors make up most of Ontario government’s judicial picks, raising concerns over balance: According to a Globe and Mail analysis of the 107 judges named since the Progressive Conservatives came to power in 2018, 76 were either Crown attorneys or had conducted prosecutions while in private practice, a proportion that works out to 71 per cent.
The small-town opioid crisis hidden in the big-city shadow: Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and communities of similar size often face higher overdose rates than big cities, but they don’t get the same amount of national attention or resources. Local advocates say that has to change.
Trudeau says global coalition close to finding path to restoring stability in Haiti: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had spoken to the Prime Minister of Haiti and pledged help for the beleaguered Caribbean nation – where armed gangs are threatening to topple the government.
SaltWire newspaper chain files for creditor protection: Documents filed in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia say the the largest newspaper business in Atlantic Canada, whose operations include the 150-year-old Chronicle Herald in Halifax, is more than $94-million in debt.
Margaret Atwood calls online harms bill ‘Orwellian,’ notes potential for abuse: The noted Canadian authorsaid she has been the frequent target of “hate speech, online vilification, lies, threats and doxxing,” and is “no fan of this kind of online behaviour,” but that she is “also no fan of unsupervised authority acting under vague laws, without any oversight.”
Accused killers in B.C. go unprosecuted for murder as judges allege that police unit is flouting search laws: Court records indicate that in these and other cases involving B.C.’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, defence lawyers have successfully challenged police-gathered evidence by alleging breaches of their client’s rights because of police searches and seizures.
Quebec to present ‘restrained’ budget today amid economic stagnation: Quebec Premier François Legault has signalled that today’s budget will have a larger deficit than last year’s forecast.
THIS AND THAT
Commons, Senate Break: The House of Commons is on a break until next Monday. The Senate sits again on March 19.
Deputy Prime Minister’s day: Chrystia Freeland is in Vancouver with no public events scheduled.
Ministers on the road: Health Minister Mark Holland, in Whitehorse with Yukon Health Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee, announced agreements to invest nearly $86-million to improve health care. Justice Minister Arif Virani, in Toronto, announced $2.1-million in funding to support three Indigenous-led projects to address the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the justice system.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Justin Trudeau met with Natan Obed, the president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the national organization representing the interests of Inuit in Canada
LEADERS
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre attends a fundraising event at the Sláinte whiskey bar in St. John’s.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May is travelling from Victoria to Ottawa.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Coquitlam, B.C., held a news conference, played host to a community forum on dental care and spoke at the Coquitlam Nowruz Fire Festival, marking the Persian New Year.
No schedule provided for Bloc Québecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet.
THE DECIBEL
On today’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, health reporter Kelly Grant, explains the history of hormone replacement therapy use, the culture shift around our views on menopause and where this all leaves people dealing with its symptoms. The Decibel is here.
BOOKS
Poilievre biography coming: Andrew Lawton, of the small-c conservative digital platform True North, has written a biography of federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre that will be published on May 28 by Sutherland House Books. Ken Whyte, Sutherland founder and president, said Lawton has been working on Pierre Poilievre: A Political Life since the Ottawa-area MP won his party’s leadership in 2022, and that Poilievre did not co-operate with the project. “It’s not in any sense an authorized biography, although a number of the people closest to him – politically and personally – did speak,” Whyte said in a statement. Lawton said, in his own statement, that he relied on sources in the public record going back to Poilievre’s adolescence, conducted dozens of interviews with current and former friends, colleagues (including in caucus), and aides. He noted he incorporated interviews he has done with Poilievre on his show into the book. Whyte said the goal of the book was “to write a fair and revealing biography of a man who is already reshaping Canadian politics and who is likely to be our next PM, and to demonstrate how he is very much a product of our last three decades of political history.”
Fullerton on Ontario pandemic response: Former Ontario cabinet minister Merrilee Fullerton says she has a book coming that covers Ontario’s pandemic response. Fullerton says chapters of A Physician in the Political Arena: Ethics, Duty and the Pandemic will be released on her substack page, one chapter at a time, starting March 16. “In part, this book is an account of the Ontario government’s response to the pandemic and the impact COVID-19 had on the province’s long-term care sector – as told from my perspective, both as a physician and the minister of long-term care,” Fullerton writes on substack. She was an Ottawa-area member of the legislature from 2018 until she resigned suddenly in 2023.
TRIBUTE
Roger Gibbins: The University of Calgary political scientist and president of the Canada West Foundation has died, with Premier Danielle Smith calling him “a leading figure in the development of Western Canada’s political identity over the last 40 years.”
OPINION
The battle for American democracy starts now
“With the Super Tuesday primaries in the rear-view mirror and a rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden set in motion, the U.S. presidential race now shifts into the normal rhythms of any election campaign. There will be barnstorming, promises, gaffes, polls, lies, half-truths and invented controversies, all of them devouring the front pages until the vote on Nov. 5. But this is anything but a normal election: it is, as Mr. Biden is trying to convince voters, a battle for the soul of the world’s oldest democracy. A victory for Mr. Biden would be victory for liberal democratic values around the globe.” – The Globe and Mail Editorial Board.
Stop undervaluing the contributions that international students make to Canada
“Economic immigrants – people with advanced education and professional experience who can easily slot into high-need sectors of their new country’s work force – are celebrated as essential contributors to Canada’s prosperity, and rightly so. Why, then, are international students increasingly derided as second-rate immigrants of limited utility to Canada – people who are not actually here to learn, but rather to game the immigration system by posing as pupils, placing undue pressure on housing in the process?” – Daniel Bernhard
The GTA and Quebec still stand in the way of the Pierre Poilievre juggernaut
“Poilievre doesn’t have anything near the ability of Mulroney to talk with Quebeckers. His French, while competent, remains stilted. He’s learned the words but not the music.” – Tom Mulcair, CTV
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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
