NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks to the media at the party's caucus retreat in Montreal, on Sept. 11.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh signalled his party is planning to oppose the current carbon-pricing regime for Canadian consumers, saying the party is working on an alternative climate plan ahead of the next election campaign.
Mr. Singh made the comments Thursday as he wrapped up three days of caucus meetings in Montreal ahead of Parliament’s return on Monday.
Mr. Singh said the NDP’s priorities in the House of Commons will be on lowering grocery prices, increasing access to affordable housing, justice for Indigenous people, climate policy and job creation.
The federal government has two carbon-pricing regimes: one for individual consumers and another for heavy industry called the industrial carbon price.
Mr. Singh said Thursday that he wants “big polluters” to pay their fair share. He did not provide further details, nor did he say whether the NDP will fully oppose some form of a carbon price on consumers.
It will be a new dynamic for the NDP in Parliament after Mr. Singh announced last week that he had “ripped up” the supply-and-confidence agreement between his party and the Liberals. The deal saw NDP MPs vote to keep the Liberals in power in exchange for action on NDP priorities such as dental care. The NDP says it will now decide how to vote on a case-by-case basis.
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Mr. Singh repeatedly declined this week to say how he and the NDP would vote on a clear motion of non-confidence. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said this week that he intends to introduce a non-confidence motion as soon as possible when Parliament resumes.
Mr. Poilievre, whose party is well ahead in public opinion polls, says he wants a “carbon tax election” this fall that would allow voters to have a say on his proposal to eliminate the carbon-pricing scheme. Mr. Poilievre has not yet proposed an alternative climate plan.
Mr. Singh was asked Thursday to provide his position on consumer carbon pricing. The NDP Leader began by saying the Conservative plan amounts to having “free rein for big polluters,” while adding that he also disagrees with the Liberal approach.
“We want to see an approach to fighting the climate crisis where it doesn’t put the burden on the backs of working people, where big polluters have to pay their fair share,” he said. “We’ve been working on a plan, and we’ll be releasing our plan, our vision, for how we can do that in a stronger way in the coming months.”
Deputy Conservative leader Melissa Lantsman said the NDP has voted multiple times in favour of the existing carbon-pricing scheme. In a statement, she repeated the Conservatives’ call for the NDP to support a fall election.
Throughout the week, Mr. Singh and his MPs focused on a handful of policy areas that the party intends to prioritize when the House of Commons resumes.
Mr. Singh also highlighted a plan that he released on Wednesday, which will see his party introduce a private member’s bill this fall aimed at cracking down on so-called renovictions by “financialized” landlords, corporations that buy up large volumes of rental properties as an investment vehicle.
He said the NDP will push the government to cap prices on essential groceries, such as bread.
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When asked for details as to how that would work, Mr. Singh pointed to recent policies in France that were brought in to curb food inflation. The French government has secured pledges from grocery companies to cut prices on a selection of items.
Mr. Singh said grocery stores have in-house brands and could be ordered to keep costs of key goods at a certain price.
“What we need to do is impose a price cap. We can look at France as an example. They were able to lower the price of 5,000 essential food items,” he said. “Our price cap would be the following: we look at essential food items, impose a price cap that you cannot charge more than a reasonable amount on these food essentials. That would immediately give Canadians relief when it comes to their groceries.”
While Liberal Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne has met with Canadian grocery executives to express concern with high food prices over the past year, he has so far been cool to the idea of government caps.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article used the phrase "carbon tax," which contradicts The Globe and Mail Style Book. It has been updated to use the phrase carbon pricing.