Higgs,Trudeau can’t close gap

N.B. PREMIER SAYS NO PROGRESS ON CARBON TAX

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs says his latest meeting with the prime minister produced little or no progress on major issues facing his province.

Higgs met with Justin Trudeau on Tuesday in Ottawa, but the premier said there was no movement on the contentious issue of the federal government’s carbon tax.

New Brunswick is an intervener in legal challenges launched by Saskatchewan and Ontario and has launched its own legal challenge of the carbon tax.

Higgs said New Brunswick industries aren’t getting credit for the work already done to reduce emissions. He added the federal backstop — the tax Ottawa will impose in provinces without their own carbon taxes — puts his province at a disadvantage, and if it remains in place, New Brunswickers will be paying the highest tax on gasoline by 2022.

“We are ahead of the game in terms of our overall emissions, our industries are ahead of the game in terms of their environmental standards and yet with the imposition of the plan — the backstop being imposed upon us — we’re not seeing that benefit,” Higgs said following the meeting.

“We would like to have the same consideration as Saskatchewan is seeing, as Newfoundland is seeing, and many of the other provinces in relation to recognizing where industry is today. We didn’t get an agreement on that.”

Higgs said the prime minister would also not agree to put the backstop on hold until at least the conclusion of the court challenges.