The federal Conservatives on Tuesday escalated their calls on the governing Liberals to scrap all additional federal taxes on gas and diesel for the remainder of the year, including the GST, presenting a motion in the House of Commons that would also permanently end the clean fuel standard.
A majority of MPs ultimately defeated the motion Wednesday, with all parties other than the Conservatives voting against.
The affordability push comes after the Liberals instituted a temporary suspension of the federal fuel excise tax last month, which will expire on Labour Day, amid sky-high gas prices brought by the war in the Middle East and resulting energy supply shortages.
Speaking outside the House of Commons while the motion was being debated by MPs Tuesday, Conservative finance critic Jasraj Singh Hallan said the suspension did not go far enough.
“Canadians need a break,” he said.
“The Liberals have only introduced half-measures. They’re only taking a third of the tax off for a third of the year when it comes to fuel taxes. That’s why Conservatives under Pierre Poilievre, in today’s opposition day motion, are calling for all federal fuel taxes to be removed for the rest of the year.”
Hallan said the measure, if passed, would save Canadian families 25 cents per litre of fuel for a total of $1,200 this year on average.
Poilievre, who backed the motion sponsored by Quebec MP Eric Lefebvre, argued during question period Tuesday that gas prices are more than 40 cents higher than they were when Conservatives were in power in 2014, when a global energy crisis also pushed the price of oil to US$100 per barrel.
“Those are not world impacts, those are Liberal impacts,” Poilievre said.
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Prime Minister Mark Carney countered that refinery margins — the difference between the cost of refined fuel and the cost of production — is also about 40 cents higher in Canada, a result of the loss of raw petrol supplies.
“Mr. Speaker, some things have changed since the Harper days, thankfully,” he said, pointing to himself.
“What hasn’t changed is the (Leader) of the Opposition is against childcare … he’s against general care, he’s against pharmacare, he’s against everything that supports Canadians and the affordability crisis.”
The motion quotes Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne telling reporters on May 19 that “we’ve already acted” when asked if the government was considering extending the fuel excise tax suspension or additional tax relief.
Champagne defended the government’s affordability agenda during debate in the House of Commons just before Hallan spoke Tuesday, pointing to the cancellation of the consumer carbon price last year.
“We have taken a suite of measures, Mr. Speaker, to reduce the price of fuel across the country,” he said.
He urged Conservatives to support legislation that would implement the fuel excise tax suspension and other tax relief measures introduced in the spring economic update tabled last month.
“I can see in their eyes and in their smiles, Mr. Speaker, that they will intend to vote, and we’re going to look for that,” he said, “because their constituents are going to be watching if they vote in fact for support that will reduce fuel costs.”
The government says the excise tax suspension, combined with the scrapping of the carbon price, will lower gas prices by nearly 30 cents per litre.
The average price of gas in Canada is currently around $1.82 per litre, according to GasBuddy, which is below the peak of about $1.90 per litre on May 6. The current price remains the highest since 2022.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer said in an analysis that the fuel excise tax suspension would translate to an average tax savings of $124 per household, while costing the government $2.1 billion.
Kody Blois, the parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, said during debate after question period Tuesday that the temporary suspension was a “fiscally prudent” approach that he urged the Conservatives to support.
“We hear the Conservatives on one side of their mouth in the House of Commons talking about Canada’s fiscal position … but in the same breath they talk about spending even more on removing the GST,” he said.
He added that the clean fuel standard was helping drive innovation and investment in the agricultural sector while reducing emissions, with a “minimal” impact on the price of fuel.
“We may have slightly different interpretations of the best way to go about it, but instead they (Conservatives) just want to tear this thing down,” he said.
“I find that shocking, I find that unfortunate, Mr. Speaker, and this will not solve affordability for Canadians.”
Canadians are over taxed in order to fund the ridiculous deficit budgets. The excess taxes increase all consumer costs for food, energy, shelter and so on. The liberal ideology will drive this country into the ground.
oh dat ire Eby, it will get his way for economy taxation, he stupid man no take away gas tax
Sounds like the best way to kill off Healthcare. Exactly what conservatives want.
Champagne, such a person with no ability at all, can keep working as various ministers. It’s really a joke. The political scene in Canada is truly a bunch of trash
These are the same Conservatives that whine about the high federal deficit under he Liberals. They need to make up their minds. Removing the tax on Gas will increase the deficit.
Carney needs the tax money for his cronies and wokeism projects.
No tax cut, can’t afford it.
Turns around, gives billions away for gender sensitive farming in foreign lands
Hey PP. How about you get elected first, or even win your own riding before playing PM. This guy lost, that the rightnuts regurgitated.Get lost!
We could lower or eliminate a lot of taxes if the Liberals would just stop giving away our money and all the handouts
Trying to fix high gas prices with a temporary tax cut is a bit like trying to lower the water level in a swimming pool during a rainstorm—the gesture is there, but nature usually wins.
Conservatives also claim that they don’t like deficits, but this would hurt revenues. And they aren’t saying that they want to regulate the price of gas to prevent petroleum companies from just raising the prices and keeping it for themselves.