Scheer calls on feds to delay carbon tax hike, refund GST payments

Sarah Turnbull CTVNews.ca Producer @TurnbullSarah Contact

Outgoing Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer says the government needs to hold off on increasing the price on carbon, and refund GST payments collected in the last six months.

Scheer pitched the measures as means to relieve the financial strain on small businesses and the Canadian public alike. The carbon tax is set to increase by $10 a tonne on Wednesday, but Prime Minster Justin Trudeau hasn’t indicated his government will delay the hike.

“Conservatives have been opposed to the carbon tax at the outset” said Scheer. “This is the last thing Canadians need right now.”

Speaking in his hometown of Regina on Wednesday, Scheer said the Liberal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic thus far has been one of “confusion and repeated delays” and only after the Conservatives have pushed them for action, have they budged.

Canadians have been waiting to hear from Finance Minister Bill Morneau about the government’s proposed wage subsidy plan, which would cover 75 per cent on the first $58, 700 of employees salaries for charities and small- and medium-sized businesses whose revenues have fallen by 30 per cent or more due to COVID-19.