Few details revealed on Atlantic Canada carbon plans

Provincial leaders are varying their approaches to dealing with meeting Ottawa’s carbon goals.

So far, British Columbia has led the way with the broad-based taxing of carbon, putting its own plan in place a decade ago. It started with a carbon tax of $10 per tonne and gradually raised it to $30 per tonne by 2012.

Quebec and Ontario have instead opted to go with cap-andtrade programs. These allow industry to buy and sell emissions allowances issued by those provinces and trade them on an open market that also includes the state of California. Those allowances are currently trading at about $18.50 per tonne.

In Alberta, the provincial government has chosen to implement a hybrid plan incorporating both a carbon tax and a cap-and-trade program.

But in Atlantic Canada, few of the details of each province’s carbon pricing schemes have been revealed.

New Brunswick's provincial government proposed in December to shift some of the amount it already collects as a gas tax at the pump over to a carbon tax and increase that portion gradually over the years to meet Ottawa’s demands.

“The goal is not to ask more from taxpayers; it is to ensure we are using taxation derived from fuel and industrial emissions to invest back into addressing climate change.”

That money is to be put into a climate change fund to undertake measures to reduce emissions.

“The goal is not to ask more from taxpayers; it is to ensure we are using taxation derived from fuel and industrial emissions to invest back into addressing climate change,” said Environment and Local Government Minister Serge Rousselle in a statement. “This approach is about managing our existing revenue and investing in a more targeted way.”

Critics, though, have slammed the move, saying it fails to create new revenue to fight climate change. They also allege this scheme is unlikely to get the nod from Ottawa.

Maybe so – but that’s not keeping Newfoundland from considering a similar approach. A Newfoundland department of finance official has said the plan there is to phase in a carbon tax while phasing out the gas tax. That province is eager to reassure Newfoundlanders any carbon tax will be sensitive to any impact on vulnerable populations and consumers and be guided by the need to safeguard the competitiveness of onshore and offshore industry

Prince Edward Island officials are keeping mum on their carbon pricing plan, saying only that they are in negotiations with Ottawa.

Of the four Atlantic Provinces, Nova Scotia is the only one that has come out with a proposal in line with central Canada.

“In Nova Scotia, we’re developing a cap-and-trade program, largely modelled on Quebec and Ontario – but that is not to say we will be going with them right away,” said Jason Hollett, the province’s executive director of climate change. “The government has not committed to anything at this point. We’re still in policy development.”

Without the details of various carbon pricing programs in Atlantic Canada, the specific impact in any given province is still impossible to gauge with certainty.