Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre took to the podium Thursday to defend everyday Canadians opposed to the carbon tax.

“We live in a time where the expression ‘climate criminal’ is used to make the folks driving their big trucks and cars feel responsible for destroying the planet,” a reporter said. “What do you have to say to average Canadians who have to drive their cars?” 

“Well, I think people who use that kind of incendiary language are just trying to intimidate taxpayers into taking more of their money,” replied Poilievre. “We see this extreme language from the Trudeau Liberals where they attack people for driving automobiles,” he added.

Last August 21, the Tory MP condemned former environment minister Catherine McKenna for name-calling opponents of her carbon tax.

“Conservative politicians want to fight about a price on carbon pollution? Do you want to make it free to pollute while Canadians pay with their lives threatened, homes destroyed, and communities obliterated? You are the arsonists,” she wrote on X.

Poilievre pushes back against green energy extremists who call regular Canadians "climate criminals" and "arsonists."

He says it's just "an attempt to take more of your money and make you feel bad for wanting to oppose them."https://t.co/PHR7jF0lJM pic.twitter.com/DMuvGM6RZ7

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) May 16, 2024

“What's your response to her comment?” asked a reporter. “I worry about the increased radicalization of rhetoric by Liberals, particularly Justin Trudeau,” replied Poilievre. 

In a February 2019 post, Environment and Climate Change Canada attributed “deadly heat waves in Quebec” and “asthma-inducing smoke from B.C. forest fires” in 2018 to ‘climate change.’

A January 8, 2019 department report, Attribution Of The Influence Of Human-Induced Climate Change On An Extreme Fire Season, said the feds omitted historical data to claim global warming as the cause for “record-shattering” wildfires the year prior.  

Climatologists refrained from blaming ‘climate change’ in 2021 as the sole cause of a devastating wildfire that burned down Lytton, B.C. Temperatures reached a daytime high of 47.7 degrees — the hottest temperature in Canadian history.

Poilievre says "let's get back to some common sense" after fmr. Liberal environment minister Catherine McKenna called Conservatives "arsonists" for opposing carbon taxes.

"As if we paid higher taxes we'd have less forest fires? Come on," he says. pic.twitter.com/PkWMiLcVF0

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) August 21, 2023

Poilievre earlier told reporters he doesn't buy the rhetoric comparing the carbon tax to devastating wildfires. “If we paid higher taxes, we'd have less for forest fires? Come on,” he said. “Let's bring people together instead of tearing the country apart.”

The federal government abandoned their initial pledge to keep carbon taxes low then with a $170 per tonne carbon tax expected for 2030 — costing nearly 40 cents more per litre of gas.

On Thursday, the Leader of the Official Opposition promised to “axe the tax,” stating “it's time” Ottawa stood up for Canadian workers and their families. “That is the right thing to do,” he said. “It is the patriotic thing to do.”

“The people you see driving in pickup trucks are the plumbers that are clearing the pipes when your bathroom breaks at home. These are the people that are building the homes that you hope to live in one day. These are the people who fix electrical outages.”

“These are the working people who've been screwed over by Trudeau and the NDP, and the radical wacko agenda that they've imposed on them,” said Poilievre.

Last week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told reporters that human activity remains the cause for most wildfire activity in the province this year