Federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre will make stops in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia this weekend as part of his “Axe the Tax” movement to push back against Canada’s carbon pricing plan.
Canada’s carbon price is set to increase next month despite several premiers – including the four in Atlantic Canada – asking Ottawa for a pause.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told reporters during a news conference in Bridgewater, N.S., Thursday that carbon pricing is needed due to the threat of climate change.
“Those who say we should pause the price on pollution will never talk about the fact that it’s the most effective way to reduce pollution,” he said. “So if we pause that, what are we going to do?”
Next month’s increase will add roughly three cents per litre to the cost of gas at the pumps, which critics argue will further strain people during the cost-of-living crisis.
The federal Conservatives have criticized carbon pricing for much of its existence, with Poilievre promising to remove it if the party forms the government in the next election.
Poilievre’s Maritime stops this weekend include “Axe the Tax” rallies in Fredericton on Saturday and Halifax on Sunday.
Dalhousie University political science professor Lori Turnbull said Poilievre has been successful with his messaging on social media, though she isn’t sure how much the carbon pricing pushback will resonate with Atlantic voters.
“I don’t think the public is of one mind on this at all. I don’t think that either side of this debate has built a firm consensus on whether this is a tax or a rebate, whether this is the right thing or the wrong thing,” she said.
“It depends on your experience with it. It depends on how strapped financially you are, too, and whether you’re trying to make things stretch from one month to the next, and whether that rebate every three months is really enough for you to say, ‘This is OK.’”
She said the “Axe the Tax” message likely resonates with voters more in other parts of the country more than it does in Atlantic Canada, but she doesn’t think it’s “turned people off” from Poilievre either.
The Conservative leader’s upcoming visit to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia is an effort to build support in the region, Turnbull said.
“Sometimes in Atlantic Canada, we have a tendency to think that everybody votes Liberal … but that doesn’t happen,” she said, noting that three out of four of the Atlantic Canadian provincial governments are conservative – though not the same style of conservatism as Poilievre.
“People, I think, are looking beyond the incumbent (Justin Trudeau.) There is a sense of voter fatigue, there is a palpable desire to shift from the status quo,” she said.
“There are also going to be places where people are listening to Pierre Poilievre’s messaging on affordability and the cost of living crisis, and they are listening to the way he communicates, which is very direct.”
‘Building a new conservative movement’
As part of Poilievre’s visit to New Brunswick, he will also attend a Progressive Conservative leader’s dinner with Premier Blaine Higgs Friday night in Saint John, with tickets for attendees going at $600 a pop.
She said attending this dinner is an opportunity for Poilievre – who has successfully built support on social media – to engage in the “old style of politics” by showing up and shaking hands.
“Poilievre has done really well by appealing broadly to people who are giving donations, but they’re giving small ones. They’re people who have not necessarily been in the party a long time,” Turnbull said.
“He’s building a new conservative movement. And so for him to come to New Brunswick and go to one of those kind of old-style, $600-a-plate, meet all the party brass (events) is something I think he probably has to do in order to build inroads with the provincial infrastructures of the party.”
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