The federal government rules out any temporary halt or future exemptions for the carbon price, despite inflation figures that remain high and contribute to the cost of living, according to House Leader Steven MacKinnon.

The federal government announced on Tuesday the rebranding of its controversial carbon pricing program, changing the name of the quarterly rebate from the Climate Action Incentive payment to the Canadian Carbon Rebate.

There are no changes to how the federal fuel pricing system and the corresponding rebate work, but the Liberals say the new name will make the program easier for people to understand.

The rebranding announcement came ahead of the planned April 1 increase in the carbon price.

The federal government has faced pressure either to repeal the carbon price entirely or to pause it, the prominent climate policy pursued by the Liberals.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, with his slogan "Scrap the tax," strongly opposes the program.

According to Angus Reid data last November, many other Canadians also criticized this policy, with 42 percent of participants saying they want to repeal the carbon price, 17 percent saying they would lower the carbon price, and 26 percent saying they would keep the current rate but postpone any increases.

The Liberals also faced criticism in the fall for reducing the carbon price for home heating oil, an exemption that largely benefits Atlantic Canadians.

Meanwhile, Statistics Canada is scheduled to release the January Consumer Price Index on Tuesday. Canada’s annual inflation rate rose slightly to 3.4 percent in December, while prices of many things, including food and rent, remained stubbornly high.

When pressed about whether the Liberals would consider pausing the carbon price while inflation remains above the 2 percent target, MacKinnon said "definitely no" in an interview aired Sunday with CTV Question Period host Vassy Kapelos.

He added, "Experts have appeared before the agriculture committee... in the last two weeks, and they said there’s no demonstrable link between food prices, for example, and the carbon price. You know, these rebates are effective; they go into people’s bank accounts on the sixteenth day of the month, every three months. And that’s a very important feature of this plan."

 He continued, "And I’ll remind you those rebates will also increase."

Kapelos also asked MacKinnon several times whether he thought the policy’s rebranding would help make it more acceptable to Canadians.

"The 'Canadian Carbon Rebate' is simple, designed so that Canadians understand they are getting more money in their pockets, most of the time, and that they are part of this fight against greenhouse gases and 'global warming.'"