The issue isn't the carbon tax — it's climate change

When the going gets tough, political leaders sometimes feel the need to get going. And the scramble for safer ground is not always elegant.

So it was for NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh when he tried (again) last week to put some distance between himself and the Liberal government's carbon pricing policies.

Speaking to reporters in Montreal, Singh offered two thoughts on the government's consumer carbon tax. First, he cited his disagreement with the government's decision to exempt home heating oil from the federal fuel levy. Second, he said New Democrats «want to see an approach to fighting the climate crisis where it doesn't put the burden on the backs of working people.»

The NDP is hardly alone in quibbling with the exemption for home heating oil that was announced last fall. The wisdom of that change is certainly debatable.

But inconsistency in the Liberal government's approach doesn't compel the NDP to abandon the policy entirely. If New Democrats think the Liberal approach is inconsistent, they could always just promise to eliminate the exemption.

Singh's comment about the «burden» of climate policy suggests a broader rejection of that policy. But that comment also flies in the face of the fact that 90 per cent of the revenue from the fuel levy is rebated to Canadians — the Parliamentary Budget Officer has found that most households, particularly low-income households, receive more from the rebate than they pay in additional costs.

If Singh is ready to oppose the federal carbon tax, he has to explain what he would do instead. The federal fuel charge is projected to account for somewhere between eight and 14 per cent of Canada's emissions reductions between now and 2030. How would Singh make up for that?

The question before