Round-the-clock vote ‘small price to pay’ to axe the carbon tax: Ferreri

By: Joelle Kovach

Friday, December 8, 2023

Peterborough-Kawartha MP Michelle Ferreri says she doesn’t mind staying up all night to vote if it means the removal of the carbon tax.

Peterborough-Kawartha MP Michelle Ferreri participated remotely, from her constituency office in Peterborough, in round-the-clock voting that started in the House of Commons around 6 p.m. Thursday (Dec. 7) and was expected to continue without pause until late Friday evening.

“I vote on my app. I’ve been voting on my app for 16 hours straight,” Ferreri said in a livestream on her Facebook page at 10 a.m. Friday, holding up her phone.

In the livestream, Ferreri says she isn’t in Ottawa because “my children needed me – and I had to be here (in Peterborough).”

If anything, she said motherhood prepared her for staying up all night – she notes that moms routinely do it for babies.

Ferreri then called the loss of sleep “a small price to pay” if it achieves the official Opposition Conservatives’ objective of getting the Liberal government to drop the carbon tax on home heating, in time for the holidays (and that was the objective, The Canadian Press reports.)

The Conservatives’ plan, according to CP, was to stall the government’s agenda by prompting 135 votes – some on as little as $1 of proposed spending, some on billions of dollars – just as the House is about to recess for the holidays.

The Tories have said they won’t stop until families, farmers and First Nations are freed of carbon taxes, CP reported, because they say the tax is increasing the cost of living for these groups.

Ferreri says in her video that she’s observed long queues at Peterborough food banks, and she’s heard from local senior citizens and New Canadians alike who are “in desperation” because they can’t afford groceries.

She further says she heard from a Douro farmer who explained that the taxes he’s charged are downloaded onto the consumer.

“It’s the most common-sense, basic principle. And yet you have a Prime Minister who just doubles down on this,” Ferreri says.

The end result is “kids who have written letters to Santa that aren’t asking for presents: they’re asking for food,” Ferreri says. “In Canada! It makes no sense.”

Furthermore she mentions that some local people are afraid for the lives of loved ones who use drugs such as fentanyl.

“Why are more people getting addicted to things? For a couple of reasons – including that the government has made it (a drug such as fentanyl) more accessible – but because they’re suffering,” Ferreri says.

“All of it is intertwined, and all of it comes back to the head, the leader – Justin Trudeau. He is not capable or competent to lead this country and he clearly isn’t making choices that are best for Canadians.”

In a separate video posted to her Facebook page Thursday, Ferreri speaks about a petition she sponsored that calls for Trudeau’s ouster.

Electronic petition e-4701, launched by Peterborough citizen Melissa Outwater, calls for a non-confidence vote; it states that Canadians have lost all confidence in Trudeau.

Under a deal with the Liberals, the NDP must support the government in confidence matters.

But Ferreri says in the video that the 215,000-and-counting signatures nevertheless hold weight: “They send a very big message that you are unhappy – and that is very important when we work here at Parliament.”

Meanwhile social media “trolls” are “angry” about the popularity of the petition, Ferreri adds.

“They like to protect their sweet, precious Justin Trudeau,” she says.

Those “trolls” have been saying online that many signatures are not valid because they come from people who live outside Canada.

Parliamentary rules state that a person must hold Canadian citizenship to sign, Ferreri notes – and some Canadians live out-of-country.

When Parliament reconvenes after the holiday recess, Ferreri says she’ll table the petition for a government response.

The petition is open until Dec. 24, and is available here: https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-4701

Ferreri wants to “axe the (carbon) tax” in all-night vote (thepeterboroughexaminer.com)