TORONTO — Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax is proof the prime minister sees everyday Canadians as “the enemy.”

Scheer made the comments in a Saturday speech to the annual policy convention of the Ontario Tories. The federal leader has been aligning himself with Premier Doug Ford as the two confront the federal carbon tax.

“To Justin Trudeau, you are the enemy: the commuter, the office worker, the hockey mom, the retired senior. Those are the people getting dinged by this carbon tax; that’s why it’s unfair,” Scheer said.

He also repeated the line that the carbon tax will force Canadians “to pay more for everything.”

The federal government insists the carbon tax will be revenue-neutral — meaning that all cash from the tax will be rebated back to the province from where it came, leaving 70 per cent of Ontario households better off. The province’s budget watchdog has released a similar finding.

[READ MORE: Ford gets his facts wrong while bashing federal carbon tax]

Scheer’s heated attack came a day after Ford also took aim at Trudeau. In the premier’s opening speech Friday night to the gathering, he warned the prime minister that he was “next,” now that Kathleen Wynne has been defeated.

Scheer’s rhetoric was accompanied by pointed attacks at Trudeau’s senior staff and their connection to the previous Liberal government in Ontario.

“The very same Queen’s Park Liberals who’ve left Premier Ford and his team with the mess that they’ve inherited have moved on to Ottawa, and are trying to do the same thing to Canada that they did to Ontario. We can’t let that happen,” he said.

Without naming them directly, Scheer appeared to be directing his comments at Trudeau’s principal secretary, Gerald Butts, and chief of staff Katie Telford. Butts had the same title under former Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty from 2003 to 2008. And Telford was chief of staff to former Ontario education minister Gerard Kennedy.

The prime minister’s spokesperson, Eleanore Catenaro, sent a terse statement in response: “The Conservatives have been fixated on Justin Trudeau for years. We’ve always been focused on Canadians, and we’re going to stay focused on Canadians.”

The weekend is supposed to be a celebration for the Ontario Tories, who, after 15 years on opposition benches, returned to the seat of power at Queen’s Park in June. But the Ford government has been forced on the defensive as a result of two weeks of damaging stories.

Ford lost two members of his inner circle to sexual-harassment allegations, former minister Jim Wilson and senior aide Andrew Kimber; a former senior staffer hired a lawyer after leaving the Progressive Conservative caucus office; and, most recently, Finance Minister Vic Fedeli has had to defend himself against allegations in a new book by former leader Patrick Brown.

Journalists were on hand for the speeches, but, while an area for news conferences was set up, neither leader spoke to the press.

The two leaders have been in lockstep, not only in opposition to the carbon tax, but also on the federal handling of irregular asylum seekers. But a new issue is emerging that could force some daylight between the Conservative cousins.

As part of Ford’s economic update, the government cut the office of the French-language services commissioner and broke its promise to build a French-language university. The cuts have drawn the ire of Franco-Ontarians and also Quebecers, a province that is key to Scheer’s 2019 election hopes.

Scheer’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the issue.

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