Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland expressed her support for the prime minister when being asked about the carbon tax and potential leadership runs by her and Mark Carney.
Ms. Freeland was asked about Mr. Carney’s testimony in the Senate the day prior as she appeared before the House of Commons finance committee on May 9 to discuss her latest budget bill. Mr. Carney is a former Bank of Canada governor who has not denied being interested in becoming the next Liberal Party leader.
As is customary during her appearances at the finance committee, she was asked politically charged questions by Conservative MPs that she, as usual, mostly avoids and dodges.
Tory MP Jasraj Singh Hallan, his party’s finance critic, raised Mr. Carney’s appearance at the Senate committee the day prior, identifying him to Ms. Freeland as “someone who will probably be your next leader” and who could run in the next Liberal leadership contest.
“We saw Mark Carney also duck and dodge the question of if he supported the carbon tax,” Mr. Hallan said. “So before you launch your campaign, we wanted to know, will you continue down the path of Justin Trudeau and quadruple the carbon tax?”
Ms. Freeland did not answer whether she would continue raising the carbon tax, but instead addressed Mr. Hallan’s political jabs.
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“I’m not sure the best use of this committee’s precious time is to indulge in political speculation and political horse-racing,” she said, with Mr. Hallan interrupting and asking for an answer to his carbon tax question.
“So let me just be clear, because you have waded pretty far into waters of political speculation,” said Ms. Freeland. “Our party has a leader, and our government has a prime minister. He has the full support of our cabinet and our caucus.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has not given any indication he would be stepping down, but speculation has been fuelled by months of bad polls showing the Conservatives with now a 20-point lead over the Liberals.
A recent Abacus Data survey for the Toronto Star asked Canadians who they preferred to see succeeding Mr. Trudeau. Over 50 percent said they were unsure, but of those who expressed a preference, Ms. Freeland came in first with 13 percent of respondents, while Mr. Carney placed second with 11 percent.
Mr. Carney is also a former governor of the Bank of England. He is currently the UN special envoy for climate action and finance and the chair and head of transition investing at Brookfield Asset Management.
He told the Globe and Mail last fall he had not ruled out a run for the top spot in the Liberal Party, while specifying he didn’t have to make a decision at that time.
The Conservatives have been relentless on the carbon tax issue, accusing the Liberals of increasing the cost of living amid an affordability crunch, and they had a chance this week to get Mr. Carney to state his position on the matter.
Tory MPs have been unsuccessful in having Mr. Carney appear before the House finance committee, but senators were able to ask him questions on May 8.
Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos asked him whether he supports “Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax.” Mr. Carney did not directly answer, instead speaking of the need for various measures for climate action.
Sen. Yonah Martin pressed on the issue later on, and Mr. Carney said the carbon tax had “served a purpose up until now.”
“I think one can always look for better solutions and as a country, we should always be open to better solutions for that,” he said.
The carbon tax went up 23 percent on April 1, adding 17 cents to the price of a litre of gasoline in most provinces. By 2030, the tax would add 37 cents to a litre of gas.
A majority of provincial premiers came out against the April hike. Even the NDP, a long-time proponent of the carbon tax, pulled back support amid concerns it’s hurting the working class.
The Liberal government says that 8 out of 10 households get more back from the carbon tax and its associated rebates.
Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux says this is only true if not considering the full economic impacts of the tax. Once those are factored in, he says the figure is flipped with 8 out of 10 households becoming poorer because of it.
Jennifer Cowan contributed to this report.
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