Conservative leader Poilievre makes campaign style stops in the Maritimes

If you are in the Maritimes, you may have seen some new advertisements from the Conservative Party of Canada aimed at the Justin Trudeau Liberal government and its carbon pricing policy.

If you have a phone, you likely received a robocall from Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, asking to join him in Halifax on Sunday for a 'Spike the Hike' and 'Axe the Tax' rally at the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel.

"It's April Fool's Day soon and with Justin Trudeau the jokes in on you," said Poilievre in an automated message. "With more tax hikes coming April first."

Poilievre is in the Maritimes this weekend to kick off the national campaign directed at the Liberal's carbon pricing policy that will see the price of carbon increase in April from $65 per tonne of carbon emissions to $85 per tone, which for Maritimers will see regular gas go up roughly four cents per litre.

All four Atlantic Canadian premiers, including Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Premier Andrew Furey, joined together this week in calling for a pause on the carbon tax increase.

In Nova Scotia, Premier Tim Houston has been critical of the carbon tax since he was elected, and now both N.S. Liberal leader Zach Churchill, and N.S. NDP leader Claudia Chender have called for a freeze on carbon pricing.

Churchill points to the affordability crisis but says taxing individuals isn't the best policy, he'd prefer to see large industries and the biggest polluters pay their way and help bring the green economy forward and everyone forward.

"We had a better model for pricing pollution under our previous government," Churchill. "It was a cap and trade model and that meant the bigger polluters paid and that money was redistributed to for green energy programs."

Churchill believes that's the better model than an all-encompassing carbon tax because Nova Scotia is still behind when it comes to the green infrastructure needed to allow people to use and charge electric cars and heat their homes in the winter without oil or other fuels.

It also comes down to an affordability issue.

"People can't afford to have an extra increase added to their cost of living right now," said Churchill. "Whether I'm talking to a fixed income senior or a young working family or a young person that's coming into the workforce, everyone is feeling squeezed right now."

As the calls from all sides of the political spectrum mount to halt the carbon tax, Trudeau remains committed to the plan, accusing other politicians of being short-sighted and not looking at the end goal, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"Putting a price on carbon emissions just makes sense," Trudeau said, backing up his monetary policy which he believes helps change people's habits and break away from carbon-burning sources for cleaner options.

"My job is not to be popular,” said Trudeau during a scrum with reporters. "My job is to do the right things for Canada, and do the right things for Canadians a generation from now."

While it seems there's a consensus on the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there are differing ideas among political parties and leaders on the path to achieving that.

Lori Turnbull, a political science professor at Dalhousie University says Liberals haven’t communicated their carbon pricing plan well enough and it's the opportunity for Conservatives to score easy political points with their "Axe the Tax" campaign.

"The Liberals have never been clear on their communication around what the benefit of carbon pricing is and how the rebate counters the affordability challenge, making it easy for Poilievre to call this a tax," said Turnbull.

The extra costs are visible every day said Turnbull like at the gas station and in our home heating bills and by the time we receive our quarterly rebate individuals may not connect it to the carbon pricing increase.

"I don't know what rhymes with rebate," said Turnbull. "But because people are already frustrated with the affordability crisis, the Conservatives are having an easy time with ‘Axe the Tax’ and it's a catchy slogan."

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