Hon. Yonah Martin: Minister, this question also comes from a senior living on a fixed income with his partner in downtown St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. It recently cost about $1,000 to fill his oil tank. As of July 1, the Trudeau government’s carbon tax will drive up home heating oil by over $0.17 a litre, and at $2.03 per litre, a standard tank of 900 litres will cost about $1,800 — $800 more. Your government’s programs for home renovation and energy switches make it hard to improve old houses, which the programs want to make impossibly perfect. This senior cannot apply for those programs as his home cannot be brought into line with your government’s energy standards.

Minister, there is a saying: “Let not perfection be the enemy of good.” What are you going to do to advocate for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians caught in this situation who will soon have to pay a lot more to heat their homes?

As I said before, 8 out of 10 households will get more money back than they do currently. If there are any increases as a result of a price on pollution, that money — and, in many cases, more money — will be refunded back to them. That is how it will work.

Let’s not forget that the reality of the situation right now is that there is already a tax applied, and it goes to the general revenue of the province.

Hon. Yonah Martin (Deputy Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader in the Senate.

Speaking of the Prime Minister, while the Prime Minister may never have to worry about the cost of the carbon tax or the cost of anything else, the hundreds of thousands of men and women who work in our energy sector do.

In its 2019 election platform, the Liberal Party promised energy workers a “Just Transition Act,” “giving workers access to the training, support, and new opportunities needed to succeed in the clean economy.”

Leader, Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco reported on Tuesday that the NDP-Liberal government has no implementation plan, no formal governance structure and no monitoring and reporting system in place to support a “just” transition.

Was this your government’s plan all along — to talk down the sector, destroy livelihoods and call that “just”?