The Member of Parliament for Provencher says the results from Thursday's non-confidence vote were really not that surprising. 

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre presented the motion that the House declare non-confidence in the Prime Minister and his government for increasing the carbon tax 23 per cent on April 1st. The motion called for the House to be dissolved so Canadians could vote in a carbon tax election.

There were 116 Members of Parliament in support of the motion and 204 that opposed it. As a result, the motion did not force an election.

"The NDP and the Bloq have again propped up this Prime Minister and we know that after eight years he's not worth the cost and he's not worth the corruption," adds Provencher Member of Parliament Ted Falk.

Falk says though 36 per cent of MPs voted against this carbon tax increase, that is not an accurate reflection of what the rest of Canada wants. He notes polling shows that 70 per cent of Canadians as well as seven premiers have asked the Prime Minister to pause any hikes in the carbon tax. However, Falk says Thursday's vote shows that the other parties do not want an election at this time. 

According to Falk, the Conservatives really had nothing to lose by forcing Thursday's vote, even if the outcome was not what they had desired. 

"Many of us have been hearing from our constituencies, 'Why don't you guys call a motion of non-confidence, why don't you vote a vote of non-confidence against this current government?'" says Falk. "I've heard it for years."

Falk says the reason why the Conservatives are against this carbon tax increase is because this tax raises the price of everything. He notes it is entirely different from either the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) or the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Falk says both the PST and GST have input tax credits for people along the supply chain. In contrast, the carbon tax is attached to every food or every product right from the place where it is manufactured, transported, distributed, and processed for retailing. 

"Everything has carbon tax added onto it, so it's a compounding tax," explains Falk. "And it's significantly much more damaging than the GST for example, which is only an end-user tax."

Falk says the PST and GST can be claimed back and are not added to every stop along the supply chain. 

"The carbon tax is very different," he says. "The carbon tax is compounded every step in the process, whether it's the individual that grows the food, the trucker that transports it, the manufacturing company that processes the food, or the retailer that sells it. Everybody is tacking on carbon tax which actually exponentially increases the cost of everything that we eat or buy on our retail shelves."

What is also troubling to Falk, is that his party cannot get a clear answer when it asks government how money collected through the carbon tax is being spent. Falk says the Liberal government is trying to convince Canadians that carbon tax rebate cheques are actually worth more money than what government is collecting. 

"The Parliamentary Budget Officer has confirmed that Trudeau's carbon tax actually costs Canadians money," explains Falk. "Just think about it for a minute, why would you tax somebody and then give them more back?"

He says in Manitoba alone, the average family is spending $627 more per year in carbon tax than what the rebate cheque is worth. 

Further to that, he says the federal government is not tracking the reduction in emissions as a result of the carbon tax. He questions whether it is then even worth imposing this tax. 

"The Liberals have a spending problem and they've implemented this carbon tax to try and help address their deficits that are showing up year after year," adds Falk.