Poilievre’s non-confidence motion over carbon price hike fails in House of Commons

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s non-confidence motion in the government over the carbon price increase set for April 1 has failed.

Poilievre faced a vote on the motion after his earlier push this week to stop the annual carbon price increase was defeated, and he introduced the non-confidence motion.

The House of Commons shut down Poilievre’s “spike the hike” motion Wednesday, with Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault saying, “We can’t put climate change on pause.”

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Poilievre introduced the motion earlier this week to stop the annual carbon price increase, which is set to rise to $80 per tonne on April 1 from the current $64 per tonne.

Increases are scheduled to take place annually until 2030 when the pollution levy is set to reach $170 per tonne.

A non-confidence vote allows members of Parliament to either affirm their support for the current cabinet or force an ousting.

The NDP have an agreement with the Liberals to support them on confidence matters in exchange for pushing legislative priorities like pharmacare.

This is the final sitting week for MPs before April 1, and the Conservatives signalled plans to use a variety of legislative tools to stop the carbon price increase.

On Monday, Poilievre pushed for an emergency debate in the House of Commons.

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Ultimately, Speaker Greg Fergus denied the request, saying the request did not meet the requirements under the standing orders of the House.

On Tuesday, Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault said that the government will not pause the increase, despite receiving a request from the Liberal premier of Newfoundland and Labrador and growing concerns from Ontario Liberals about the policy, saying climate change isn’t stopping.

“The cost of climate change are also going up. And we can’t put climate change on pause. We can’t put climate impacts on pause,” Guilbeault said.

“And if Canada doesn’t do its fair share when it comes to fighting climate change, how can I go and talk to China or India or other countries in the world and say, ‘Hey, let’s work together on finding a solution to climate change’? Because there’s only one way that we solve this and it’s together.”

— with files from Global News’ David Baxter.