The MP for Avalon is making no apologies for voting for a motion in the House of Commons urging Ottawa to exempt heating fuel from the increase coming in the carbon tax.
He was the only member of the Liberal Government to vote with the Opposition Conservatives. They say the tax will triple come April 1. McDonald isn’t sure about that, but his understanding is that it will be 17.3 cents a litre plus HST.
Coast of Bays-Notre Dame-Central MP Clifford Small lambasted government during a raucous debate in Question Period yesterday but the parliamentary secretary to the minister, Terry Duguid, shot back.
He said people cannot afford such an increase in the cost of home heating fuel and that the government is giving Atlantic Canadians the cold shoulder.
Doguid said the Parliamentary Budget Officer concludes that eight of ten Canadians will benefit financially, and that cheques have started to arrive.
MP McDonald says he was elected by the people and while he recognizes climate change, he cannot support the higher tax at this time even though many in the party, including his Liberal colleagues from Newfoundland and Labrador, have been trying to persuade him to vote against the Opposition motion.
The party, whip, several ministers, and the Prime Minister’s Office all contacted him but McDonald says he was sent to represent the people of Avalon and that’s the way they would have wanted him to vote.
