{"id":63137,"date":"2017-01-13T17:57:12","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T17:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/trudeau-challenged-over-carbon-pricing-on-2nd-day-of-town-hall-tour.html"},"modified":"2017-01-13T17:57:12","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T17:57:12","slug":"trudeau-challenged-over-carbon-pricing-on-2nd-day-of-town-hall-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/trudeau-challenged-over-carbon-pricing-on-2nd-day-of-town-hall-tour.html","title":{"rendered":"Trudeau challenged over carbon pricing on 2nd day of town hall tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u00a0was pressed to justify the implementation of a federal price on carbon during a town hall forum on the second day of his whirlwind outreach tour on Friday.<\/p>\n

At a public meeting in Peterborough, Ont., Trudeau\u00a0was asked by a woman struggling to pay her bills, amid high hydro costs in the province, why he was proceeding with a carbon price.<\/p>\n

“I feel like you have failed me and I’m asking you today to fix that,” said the woman, who later identified herself as Kathy Katula of Buckhorn, Ont. “My heat and hydro (electricity) now cost me more than my mortgage.”<\/p>\n

“I’m asking you Mr. Trudeau, how do you justify to a mother of four children, three grandchildren, with physical disabilities, and working up to 15 hours a day, how is it justified for you to ask me to pay a carbon tax when I only have $65 left in my paycheque every two weeks to feed my family,” she said to applause.<\/p>\n

Trudeau answers carbon tax question<\/strong>1:38<\/p>\n

Defending his policy on climate change, Trudeau said Canada needs to make a transition away from fossil fuels, but that governments need to ensure that the most vulnerable are taken into account.<\/p>\n

“What’s so important is we do not penalize people who are already stretched beyond the breaking limit in terms of their finances,” Trudeau said.<\/p>\n

The prime minister noted that revenues from the price will stay with provincial governments to be used as they see fit, while clarifying that the national carbon pricing requirement doesn’t kick in until 2019.<\/p>\n

Katula later told reporters she wasn’t angry, and praised Trudeau for taking part in the town hall.<\/p>\n

“He’s proven today he’s not just hanging out with rich millionaires. I’m not a rich millionaire, he came out and spoke to me today,” she said. “I’m proud of him.”<\/p>\n

But she said she wanted Trudeau to justify the impact on rural Canadians. “I understand that a carbon tax is good for our environment, but why should someone like myself, who’s barely making it, be responsible for better transit in Toronto, for electric cars and charging stations? I’ll never be able to afford that and I’m not adding to the pollution.”<\/p>\n

Trudeau also faced questions on his government’s decision to approve the Trans Mountain pipeline in B.C., on protection of waterways and why he wanted to be prime minister.<\/p>\n

Trudeau is expected to take reporters’ questions at 12:30 p.m. ET. CBCnews.ca will carry his remarks live.<\/p>\n

Breakfast with military families<\/h2>\n

Trudeau’s day began at CFB Trenton in eastern Ontario on Friday morning.<\/p>\n