Ottawa unmoved by two premiers’ stand on carbon
Emissions pricing to be implemented despite challenges from Moe, Ford: Grits
SASKATOON The federal government is not backing away from its commitment to impose a price on carbon emissions next year, even as the premiers of Saskatchewan and Ontario met in Saskatoon to present a united front against the controversial plan.
Growing conservative opposition to the carbon-pricing scheme will not affect the federal government’s plan to impose it on Jan. 1, Caroline Theriault, Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna’s press secretary, confirmed Thursday.
With that deadline less than three months away and no sign of a decision in a six-month-old constitutional reference case from the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Ontario Premier Doug Ford met in Saskatoon to reiterate their positions. At a news conference Thursday afternoon, the premiers announced that the Saskatchewan government has applied for intervener status in Ontario’s own reference case — just as the Ontario government acted in Saskatchewan’s case.
Both premiers, however, spent most of the 20-minute news conference panning the federal Liberals’ plan to introduce a $20-pertonne “backstop” — rising to $50 per tonne by 2022 — on every province that does not submit its own emissions-reduction plan.
“All it does is take money out of the pockets of hardworking families and businesses, and it uses it to fuel out-of-control government spending,” Ford said of the plan, which he characterized as “jobkilling ” and “punishing.”
Moe — who, like Ford, has made opposition to the plan a central plank of his premiership — deployed similar language, noting that, “It’s clear that opposition to this ill-advised and destructive policy is growing across the nation.”
That is a reference to Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister’s decision earlier this week to pull out of the plan, citing an untested but “credible” legal opinion that the provinces could challenge it if they have their own emissions-reduction plan in place.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley pulled her province out of the plan in late August, after a federal-court decision halted work on the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project which would carry Alberta crude to port in B.C.
“Saskatchewan and Ontario will continue to be strong allies in the fight against a destructive, made-in- Ottawa carbon tax that does nothing for our environment and is a direct cost to businesses, to jobs and to families across this great nation of Canada,” Moe said.
However, he was unable to state what he plans to do should Ottawa follow through on McKenna’s commitment to introduce carbon pricing on Jan. 1 whether the provinces like it or not.
Asked what happens if the new year arrives without a decision, Moe urged the federal government to “respect the courts” and wait for a ruling before making any changes. He noted Ottawa has pledged to follow judicial decisions in other cases. That is not likely to happen, however.
“We’ve been also clear … if provinces don’t take serious climate action, if they don’t recognize the cost of pollution, that we will have to step in and we will return the revenues to the individuals directly,” McKenna told reporters in Saskatoon last month.
“We are still on track to implement a price on pollution where it applies come the new year,” Theriault said in an email on Thursday.
Moe and Ford emphasized that while they may occasionally disagree, presenting a united front is important, both on the environment file and other issues including tax and regulatory competitiveness and interprovincial trade
Ford is set to travel to Alberta Friday to meet with United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney, another carbon pricing opponent.