Higgs, Smith lash out over tax hike
OTTAWA • The premiers of New Brunswick and Alberta lambasted the impending federal carbon tax increase in a House of Commons committee and insisted that Canada needs to instead focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions on the world stage.
But Liberal MPS accused the premiers of “screaming hypocrisy” for raising either electricity prices or provincial gas taxes in their provinces on the same date as the scheduled increase, April 1.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith were invited by the Conservative MP who chairs the government operations committee to explain, as Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe did the day prior, why the federal government should pause its carbon tax increase on Monday.
“We need to think bigger,” Higgs told MPS. “Our situation in Canada is that we’re too isolated in our bubble. We’re not reaching our potential to help the world and we’re causing huge financial impact right across this country on our citizens, and it’s unnecessary.”
New Brunswick scrapped its own provincial carbon tax scheme just last year and reluctantly joined the federal program, arguing that it would provide relief to its citizens.
Higgs was repeatedly asked by Liberal MPS Wayne Long and Irek Kusmierczyk what his alternative to the federal levy would be in his province. Higgs said New Brunswick could ship liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe to replace coal plants and thus reduce global emissions.
“We don’t have a gas supply currently, and that is the issue,” he said.
There are currently eight LNG export projects in various states of progress across Canada, most of which are in British Columbia. LNG Canada, a major project in Kitimat, B.C., is aiming for first exports by 2025, while other projects are set to begin operations between 2027 and 2030.
“We have to reduce global emissions,” said Smith. “The way I look at it is that if we can live up to the spirit of what we signed onto in (climate conference) COP28, which recognizes natural gas as a vitally important transition fuel, then we’ll be able to reduce the overall global emissions profile.
“If we could simply reduce China’s reliance on coal by 20 per cent, that would offset all of the emissions of all of Canada.”
Federal Conservatives have been maintaining the pressure to cancel the April 1 increase, which will see the federal carbon tax increase from $65 per tonne to $80. That means an increase of three cents per litre on gasoline, for a total of 17 cents for the federal levy.
At the same time, New Brunswickers will be hit by a nearly 13 per cent increase in their electricity bills starting April 1, whereas Alberta is set to reinstate its provincial fuel tax at 13 cents per litre — an increase of four cents — after suspending it in 2023.
Kusmierczyk noted that Smith joined Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre at his “axe the tax” rally in Edmonton on Wednesday evening. “Was it a rally to axe your tax?” he taunted.
Smith shot back by saying that the provincial gas tax is used to build roads, and noted the federal government does not, referring to Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s comments that the Liberals would stop investing in new roads. Guilbeault has since apologized.
Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi piled on and asked Smith if her provincial tax came with a rebate for Albertans, similar to the federal government’s quarterly cheques. Smith said Alberta eliminated completely the tax last year when rising oil prices drove up gas prices.
“I would in fact love to see the federal government do the same thing,” she said.
After the meeting, Kusmierczyk said the committee had become a “soapbox” for provincial premiers against the carbon tax, and said that the three premiers that they had heard from were “all talk and no action” on climate issues.
Conservative MPS attempted to pass a motion to get the other premiers who have spoken against the carbon tax — Ontario’s Doug Ford, Nova Scotia’s Tim Houston, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Andrew Furey and Prince Edward Island’s Dennis King — to appear.
The motion was ultimately rejected by Liberal, Bloc Québécois and NDP MPS.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week that Conservative premiers across the country are “misleading Canadians” and “not telling the truth” on the carbon tax.
He pointed to a report last year by the parliamentary budget officer showing that eight out of 10 households receive more money in quarterly carbon-tax rebates than they pay out directly and indirectly in taxes.
“But for ideological reasons, or reasons of pure partisanship, conservative politicians across this country are not telling the truth to Canadians,” he said.
But another analysis by the parliamentary budget officer also shows that, once the economic impact of the carbon tax is taken into account, a majority of households will experience a “net loss” by 2030.