Welcome, minister.

Last fall, on the day the Trudeau government announced it will impose the carbon tax on three Atlantic provinces, minister, you said, “I’m sick and tired of people talking about the cold winter . . . .” You said it was stoking anxiety, as if people won’t experience the cold if nobody talks about it.

I cannot imagine a more tone-deaf response to legitimate concerns raised by Atlantic Canadians about how they will afford to heat their homes. Your government is piling more tax on Canadians at a time when they can least afford it, when they are already paying more for groceries, housing and transportation.

Minister, the Parliamentary Budget Officer has said most households under the Trudeau carbon tax will see a net loss. Do you acknowledge that, minister, or is that something you don’t want to talk about either?

Oh, senator, it is good to be back. I appreciate the question. The quote is not accurate.

What I was referring to was just stoking fear and anxiety in things like a government would cause a cold winter. That was my exact quote. Quite frankly, I used a phrase that is often used in Newfoundland: “My nerves are rubbed raw.” People’s nerves are rubbed raw. I do personally resent it when we get carried away with partisan phrasing that causes and invokes unnecessary anxiety.

The fact of the matter is that with the federal buyback on the price on pollution, 8 out of 10 families will get more money from it. To be honest with you, I have spent an inordinate amount of time putting my head around it, writing script for it and speaking to my iPhone to get the message out. But the bottom line is that we do want to make sure we put a price on pollution, and we do want to make sure that families are not the ones to take the hit for it. In other words, they will get cash back. In Newfoundland and Labrador, they are about to get roughly a little over $1,100 back per year, four times a year. It will be listed in their bank accounts, and they’ll get it directly.

Minister, it is nice to know that the NDP‑Liberal government is not a partisan government, I guess.

My next question on the carbon tax is from a constituent of yours in Newfoundland, but I do not think he will find much comfort in your last response. He is a senior living on a fixed income in Goulds. At $1.64 per litre today, gas is already unaffordable for those living on a fixed income. Diesel costs $2.23 per litre now, and, come July 1, it is easy to see how much more transportation costs for goods will be passed on to the public, driving up the cost of everything. Minister, it seems useless to ask you to get rid of the carbon tax because in November, you said you were thrilled by it. That is another direct quote from you: “thrilled.” How can you be thrilled to cause financial hardship to people across the province, especially seniors?

I know a great many seniors in Goulds. I am always thrilled when taxpayers and citizens in my riding get more cash in their pockets than they had before. I’m a big fan of putting cash in people’s pockets. That is the answer. In fact, I would deflect perhaps even more accurately to the platform.

It’s funny because so many fellow members on my side of the House keep saying that the Conservatives in the last election didn’t have an answer for climate change. Indeed, they did. They ran on a price on pollution. They ran on a price on pollution. Their answer to it, instead of cash in pockets — which I like; I like putting cold, hard cash in people’s pockets — was to set up some sort of green committee that would determine what environmental things people could buy — kind of like an Amway catalogue. I prefer government get out of the way and return that cash directly to people’s pockets. That is the way it is designed, and it is the way it is working.

Thank you. Let’s be very clear, senator: there is already a price on pollution put on home oil and home fuelling products by the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. There was a deal we agreed to five or six years ago. We — and they — have decided they will now use the federal backstop. Instead of now going into provincial general revenue, it will go back to citizens.

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.