Allies turn on Justin Trudeau over carbon tax as shine comes off premiership

Trudeau, who has led Canada since 2015, once enjoyed a golden-boy reputation – Paige Taylor White/Bloomberg

Justin Trudeau’s political allies have turned on him over his “Net Zero” tax policy, as his Liberal Party slumps in the polls.

The Canadian Prime Minister is facing a rebellion within his own party over the unpopular 23 per cent carbon tax rises, which will see drivers charged more for fuel from Monday.

The federal carbon price is set to bump up from Can $65 (£38) to Can $80 (£47), meaning the extra charge on gasoline will increase from 14.3 cents to 17.6 cents per litre.

As things stand, Mr Trudeau’s Liberal Party is heading for humiliation in Canada’s federal elections, which are due to be held by October next year.

According to one poll, the Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, are on course for a crushing victory, gaining 92 seats while Mr Trudeau’s Liberals lose 96. That would give Mr Poilievre’s party 211 seats, with the Liberals slumping to only 64.

Canadian voters appeared to accept the carbon taxes – charging businesses and citizens for using fossil fuels – when they were first introduced five years ago.

But with the country facing a cost of living crisis, Mr Trudeau’s flagship policy has become a political millstone around the Liberal Party’s neck. Mr Poilievre and his allies have dubbed the latest rises an “April Fool’s tax hike”.

More worryingly for the 52-year-old Canadian prime minister, key Liberals across the country are voicing their opposition to the next batch of increases.

Andrew Furey, the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, dubbed the tax a ‘net negative’ – Shutterstock

Earlier this month, Andrew Furey, who leads Newfoundland and Labrador as the last remaining Liberal premier of a province, published an open letter pleading for a rethink.

He said the tax was a “net negative” at a time when prices were soaring and wages were stagnant and would do little to encourage people to adopt renewable energy options.

“In the absence of the ability to change, what does the tax really accomplish?” he asked reporters.

Bonnie Crombie, the leader of Ontario Liberals has ruled out introducing a carbon tax on consumers if she becomes the province’s premier in 2026. “We will ensure major polluters pay, but we will not have an Ontario carbon tax on consumers,” she said.

The current Ontario premier, Doug Ford of the centre-Right Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, said the tax increase will doom the Liberals.

“If they don’t start putting money back in people’s pockets instead of filling their pockets, guess what? They’re going to get annihilated, as I’ve said before, they’re done. They’re done like dinner,” Mr Ford said.

While the imminent hike in carbon taxes is a hot button issue in Canadian politics, there is a growing sense that Mr Trudeau’s political brand is becoming toxic and one-time allies are trying to distance themselves from the premier.

The son of the charismatic Pierre Trudeau, who was Canadian Prime Minister from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984, Justin Trudeau entered office in 2015 as the poster boy for the liberal Left.

But by late last year, polls were rating him the country’s worst leader in 50 years.

His Covid restrictions were regarded by critics as over-draconian, triggering a massive protest from truckers which immobilised the heart of the Canadian capital, Ottawa, in 2022.

Doug Ford, who leads Ontario for the Conservatives, said the tax would doom his rival Liberals – Shutterstock

Like other progressive politicians on both sides of the Atlantic, Mr Trudeau has been accused of being woke – a weakness which has been ruthlessly exploited by Mr Poilievre.

More recently, he has come under fire from the left for his stance on the war in Gaza. He was booed at a mosque and chased out of a Vancouver restaurant by protesters shouting “ceasefire now”.

Even the Kennedy-esque glamour evaporated last year when he split from his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau after 18 years of marriage.

“Any politician in Canada has a best-before date and that is certainly the case for our Prime Minister – and Trudeau has passed that date,” Tom Urbaniak, professor of political science at Cape Breton University, told The Telegraph.

“He should have passed the torch in 2023. The shine has gone off, the glamour has gone off.

“At the moment the carbon tax is damaging. There is a big sticker shock, there is no question about it. This has helped Poilievre effectively sloganise it as a cost of living issue.‌

“The government is trying to make amends with such things as incentivising heat pumps. But the rebates have not come through yet. But its communication is poor and they have lost control of the narrative.

“Canadians are cranky about the cost of living increases, they are cranky about the housing crisis and they are cranky about a sense that public services are not being delivered. Trudeau is the lightning rod for all of that.”

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