Housing minister defends necessity of carbon tax exemption ahead of Monday vote

Housing Minister Sean Fraser says the carbon tax carve-out on home heating oil makes sense because other government measures have reduced the need for a price incentive, as parties prepare to battle over a non-binding motion to expand the exemption Monday.

In an interview on Rosemary Barton Live that aired Sunday, Fraser said it made sense to target home heating oil specifically because it stood out as a more costly, more polluting form of heating.

"The reason that it makes sense when it comes to home heating oil is because we can completely get rid of it and you see those environmental and financial savings," Fraser told CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton.

"The same policy wouldn't make sense to apply to different sources of fuel."

Fraser argued that the other measures announced alongside the three-year pause — which would make heat pumps very cheap or free for many Canadians — mean there's no longer a need to incentivize switching over to the more efficient technology through a market price on home heating emissions.

The federal government's announcement in late October that it would pause the carbon tax on home heating oil for three years has sparked calls by premiers and opposition politicians to expand the exemption to all forms of home heating.

In Saskatchewan Saturday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre condemned the tax and praised the provincial government's actions in opposition to it. Poilievre called the three-year exemption a "scam" intended to convince Atlantic Canadians to vote for the Liberals. Recent polls suggest the governing party is struggling in a region that is part of its traditional power base.

Fraser said he did not agree with the argument that the government's decision was politically motivated, noting that other government programs have disproportionate effects across the country.

In a separate interview, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said he believed it was unfair that a policy that benefits some Canadians was not applied more evenly across the country.

"It's about fairness. I haven't been a supporter of the carbon tax from the very beginning," he said.

Higgs downplayed Canada's role in the global fight against emissions broadly, saying the country makes up a small part of the global output. He said making Canadian natural gas widely available to replace coal plants around the world would have a much bigger effect than any domestic policy.

"I would like for us to stop and pause and do an assessment of what the carbon tax implementation on citizens across this country has actually achieved," he said.

Higgs said he had asked for a legal opinion on whether or not he could stop collecting the tax on home heating. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has already said his government will stop collecting the tax on home heating next year if the exemption is not expanded.

Fraser said the government expects provinces to keep enforcing the law.