PLACENTIA, Newfoundland and Labrador (LifeSiteNews) — Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has refused Newfoundland and Labrador’s request to pause clean fuel regulations as Maritimers are struggling to make ends meet.
On August 28, Freeland denied Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey’s request to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, begging him to pause the recently announced clean fuel regulations and reduce the carbon tax.
Freeland told reporters that while she takes Furey’s appeal “very seriously,” the “climate transition is an opportunity for our country that is something that, if we embrace, and we are, is a tremendous source for jobs for today and for the future.”
On August 15, Furey, a Liberal himself, penned his second letter to Trudeau, voicing his concerns about the “detrimental and disproportionate impact” the regulations are having “and will increasingly have.”
He further argued that the federal government-imposed regulations, along with the carbon tax, have increased the cost of gasoline, diesel, and other everyday goods at a time when Maritimers are already struggling with record high inflation.
Furey explained that the federal government must consider the province’s financial situation before imposing regulations and the carbon tax. He appealed to Trudeau to consider the impact of his policies on Canadians’ lives.
However, Freeland acknowledged that the cost of living in the province is concerning but maintained that climate action incentive payments will make a difference.
Furey sent his first letter in June, calling out the Trudeau government for forcing Canadians to believe in “climate change.”
“I take great exception to force this into a dichotomous issue ‘either you believe in exactly what we say, or you don’t believe in climate change,'” he wrote.
“That’s completely illogical, it’s a false dichotomy, it’s a false dilemma, and it’s as insulting to us as it is simplistic,” Furey added.
Furey is not alone in condemning the Trudeau government-imposed fuel regulations. Both Alberta and Saskatchewan have repeatedly promised to place the interests of their people above the Trudeau government’s “unconstitutional” demands, however, consistently reminding the federal government that their infrastructures and economies depend upon oil, gas, and coal.
“We will never allow these regulations to be implemented here, full stop,” Alberta Premier Danielle Smith recently declared. “If they become the law of the land, they would crush Albertans’ finances, and they would also cause dramatic increases in electricity bills for families and businesses across Canada.”
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has likewise promised to fight back against Trudeau’s new regulations, saying recently that “Trudeau’s net-zero electricity regulations are unaffordable, unrealistic and unconstitutional.”
“They will drive electricity rates through the roof and leave Saskatchewan with an unreliable power supply. Our government will not let the federal government do that to the Saskatchewan people,” he charged.
Recently, the federal government’s own analysis found that if the regulations push through, by 2040 people living in Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia will face steep increases in their electric power bills, but the Trudeau government is trekking forward anyway.
The Trudeau government’s current environmental goals – which are in lockstep with the United Nations’ “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” – include phasing out coal-fired power plants, reducing fertilizer usage, and curbing natural gas use over the coming decades.
The reduction and eventual elimination of the use of so-called “fossil-fuels” and a transition to unreliable “green” energy has also been pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) – the globalist group behind the socialist “Great Reset” agenda – of which Trudeau and some of his cabinet are involved.
While Trudeau’s plan has been pushed under the guise of “sustainability,” his intention to decrease nitrous oxide emissions by limiting the use of fertilizer has been criticized by farmers. They say this will reduce profits and could even lead to food shortages.
Moreover, experts are warning that the Trudeau government’s new “clean fuel” regulations, which come into effect next year, will cost Canadian workers – many of whom are already struggling under decades-high inflation rates – an average $1,277 extra annually.