(November 25, 2022, St. John’s) – Tony Wakeham, PC Official Opposition Shadow Minister of Finance and MHA for Stephenville-Port au Port, is speaking out about the Premier’s failure to protect Newfoundlanders and Labradorians from rising costs of gasoline, diesel, and home heating fuel.

Wakeham is specifically noting that the Premier’s delay in negotiating with Ottawa means that people who heat their homes with fuel will have to pay the senseless Liberal Carbon Tax.

Wakeham reacted to Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault who denied the province’s extension to come up with a new plan. Guilbeault said the Premier had over a year to come up with a proposal that met the federal benchmark.

“From Minister Guilbeault’s comments it is clear that the Premier delayed in negotiating with the Federal government. The Premier failed to present a plan early enough to provide time to protect home heating fuel from having Carbon Tax applied to it,” said Wakeham.

“What’s worse is that when asked about his failure, the Premier said this is a ‘respectful disagreement.’ Those words are cold comfort to the many seniors and families who will have to dig deep into their pockets to pay the Carbon Tax in order to stay warm. To call the hardship that some seniors and families will face a ‘respectful disagreement’ is insensitive to their concerns.”

Wakeham continued to talk about what the Carbon Tax means for seniors and families.

“Since the Liberal announcement that Carbon Tax will be added to Home Heating Fuel, pushing the price up by 20 cents per litre, I have received many calls and emails from people who are concerned about how they will stay warm. While Minister O’Regan has said he is sick and tired of people talking about the cold weather, I respect people for raising their concerns and I will continue to fight for the removal of the Carbon Tax,” pledged Wakeham.

“The addition of Carbon Tax on Home Heating Fuel is senseless. The Liberals want to ignore the suffering it will cause. By allowing this to happen, the Premier and his Liberals are forcing more Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, who are already struggling with the high costs of living in this province, into greater hardship.”

Contacts:

David Maher

Director of Strategic Communications

(cell) 709-725-0984

DavidMaher@gov.nl.ca