Liberal leadership hopeful Frank Baylis noncommittal on eliminating consumer carbon tax

Power Play: One-on-one with Frank Baylis Liberal leadership candidate Frank Baylis discusses his bid to run for Liberal leadership and whether he will keep the consumer carbon tax.

Liberal leadership hopeful Frank Baylis says eliminating the consumer carbon tax alone will not “solve the affordability issue for Canadians.”

“Anybody that's selling Canadians that there's not a cost to cleaning our air is not being honest and straightforward with them,” Baylis said in an interview with CTV’s Power Play on Tuesday.

Baylis is the first person to publicly confirm a desire to run for the Liberal leadership after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday that he is resigning as Liberal leader and prime minister as soon as the party names a replacement.

Asked twice by host Vassy Kapelos whether he would keep the unpopular policy, Baylis did not answer directly, and pointed to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s repeated pledge to “axe the tax.”

“What Mr. Poilievre is doing is calling this thing ‘axe the tax’ as if this is going to solve the affordability issue for Canadians. It's not. It's not the problem,” Baylis said. “The problem is that we've lost our productivity. We've lost our good jobs. We need to get our Canadian dollar up.”

When asked to clarify his position, Baylis said he wants to have an “honest conversation with Canadians.”

“We need to deal with this issue. There's going to be a cost. And people have pitched the carbon tax as the be-all and end-all of all our challenges. It's not true,” Baylis said. “I plan on having this discussion that's going to be straightforward and honest with Canadians.”

This April, the price on carbon is set to increase to $95 a tonne from $80 a tonne in provinces where the federal backstop applies, costing drivers an extra 3.3 cents per litre at the pump. The tax is scheduled to increase another $15 each year until it reaches $170 a tonne in 2030. To offset the cost, Canadians where the backstop applies receive a quarterly payment known as the “Canada Carbon Rebate.”

But over the past year, the policy has received significant pushback from most premiers, including Liberal Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has also signalled he could be distancing himself from the policy, saying his party is working on a climate plan that wouldn’t put the burden on the backs of workers.

Baylis, who is 62 years old, is a former Liberal MP from Montreal who represented the riding of Pierrefonds-Dollard from 2015 to 2019 during Trudeau’s first mandate. He did not seek re-election in 2019. Baylis is also a businessperson and is currently the executive chairman of the board of directors at Baylis Medical Technologies.

The Liberal Party has yet to unveil its rules for the leadership race, but Baylis says, “Barring something untoward, I will be announcing formally that I'm in the race.”

Asked by Kapelos about his desire to run, Baylis said he believes his “success in business is something that appeals to a lot of people.”

“Keep in mind, I'm an entrepreneur, so I see opportunities everywhere, but I see a lot of opportunities to help our help our country, and I'm excited to be part of this race,” Baylis said.

You can watch the full interview with Baylis at the top of this article.