Jagmeet Singh is distancing the federal New Democrats from the Liberal government’s heavily criticized carbon-pricing policy, saying the much debated consumer tax is not a necessity to address climate change.

The NDP leader’s seeming about-face on the issue was highlighted during a speech he delivered at the Broadbent Institute’s annual policy conference in Ottawa on April 11.

He described the Liberal carbon-pricing plan as divisive, adding that it is targeting the wrong demographic.