THE CARBON TAX KERFUFFLE

The feds’ botched announcement that they are making small changes to their plan generated big problems for Alberta

With friends like these, Alberta doesn’t need enemies.

This week the federal government abruptly announced changes to its carbon pricing plans. The alterations are relatively minor and won’t affect Alberta. However, Ottawa — an ally with Alberta on combating climate change — did such a lousy job explaining itself that the Alberta government is scrambling to explain that the changes are, well, relatively minor and won’t affect Alberta.

“What the (federal) government announced it was going to do a couple of days ago was essentially the same kind of thing that Alberta’s done,” said Premier Rachel Notley on Friday.

Her point was that Ottawa has merely decided to bring its proposed price on carbon in line with Alberta’s existing carbon levy.

Ottawa is not abandoning a carbon tax. Alberta’s tax is not in jeopardy.

But that’s not how the story has played out.

Based on the initial overheated reaction from both sides of the carbon-tax debate, you’d think Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had suddenly declared manmade climate change was a hoax.

Environmentalists angrily accused the federal government of weakening its climate change policies. Anti-carbon-tax politicians happily proclaimed victory, saying the federal government was finally beginning to back away from an unpopular carbon tax.

It’s neither.

Ottawa is not reducing its proposed carbon tax but will simply increase subsidies to heavy emitters.

The changes are aimed most notably at four sectors: steel, lime, cement, and nitrogen fertilizers.

They are big emitters of greenhouse gases and big exporters to the United States. In the parlance of economists, they are “trade exposed.”

In the parlance of the rest of us, these industries are in a tight spot.

When the federal tax kicks in later this year they will find themselves at a disadvantage trying to sell into the American market where there is no nationwide price on carbon.

Canada’s federal carbon price will start at $10 a tonne and increase to $50 a tonne by 2022.

Provinces can avoid the federal tax but only if they bring in their own comparable price on carbon. That’s what Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec have done.

Ottawa has been warning the other provinces to follow suit, that it won’t back down on its threat to impose a federal tax on them.

Then came this week when Ottawa suddenly announced the changes to its plan.

The initial plan, announced last January, said the carbon price would apply to emissions from heavy industrial plants that were higher than 70 per cent of the industry average.

This week, Ottawa said the tax would apply to emissions from plants that were higher than 80 per cent of the industry average.

In other words, the federal carbon policy would tread a bit lighter on the heaviest of industries.

Cue the controversy. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe issued a jubilant tweet: “After two years of saying that a carbon tax would not affect Canada’s competitiveness and hurt our economy, the federal government just admitted that it actually will.”

And he later added, “A watered down poison is still a poison and this is economic poison.”

In Ontario the government of Premier Doug Ford promised to fight the federal tax on constitutional grounds and said this week’s changes were an admission the carbon tax would be an “economic catastrophe.”

In Alberta, United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney was having a bit of a told-you-so moment, too.

In response, you could almost hear Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips grind her teeth.

She is frustrated with news stories that incorrectly said the federal government was backing away from a carbon tax. And she is a bit irritated with the federal government, too, for not doing a better job of explaining this week’s changes.

“The federal government’s system is just replicating ours,” Phillips told reporters.

“Apologies to the feds, but we’re leagues ahead of them on this.”

And she offered some advice to the federal government: “Maybe provide some details, otherwise right-wing politicians who don’t have any kind of fidelity to the truth anymore are just going to make up their own stuff and it’s not helpful.”

Notley accused those anti-carbon tax politicians of “political grandstanding.”

She’s right.

But it was the federal government that gave them the stage.

By quietly slipping out the changes with no detailed briefing for the news media and others on such a complicated and controversial issue, Ottawa looked like it was backing up when it was merely slowing down just a little.

And an exasperated Alberta government suddenly found itself under the wheels.