Grits take heat for retreat on climate targets
• Environment Minister Catherine McKenna — under fire from all sides for the Liberal government’s looming climate plan — says carbon taxes such as those in B.C. and Alberta have “to be raised” as part of a pan-Canadian strategy and national price on emissions.
The Liberal government was on the defensive Monday during the first day of the fall parliamentary sitting after suddenly retreating on its pledge to strengthen greenhouse gas targets beyond what the Conservatives adopted, and warning it would impose a minimum national carbon price on provinces that fail to adopt their own system.
McKenna said she’s working with the provinces and territories to develop a panCanadian climate plan and a minimum national carbon price that will be released this fall, but the federal strategy is facing resistance from provinces such as Saskatchewan and Quebec.
It’s up to provinces to decide whether to pursue a tax on carbon, as in British Columbia or Alberta, she said, or a cap-and-trade emissions-reduction system as in Quebec and Ontario. However, McKenna said more must be done if Canada is to meet its international climate obligations.
“Quebec has a cap-andtrade system, it works well. It’s a different system. The cap needs to be lowered so we can have less emissions. With a tax like we have in Alberta and B.C., it has to be raised. And I’m working with everybody,” McKenna, speaking in French, said Monday in Ottawa.
“It’s up to provinces to decide what they’re going to do with the revenues, they know what works for their economies.”
British Columbia’s revenue-neutral carbon tax on fuel is equivalent to $30 per tonne of emissions. In Alberta, a carbon levy will be applied to fuels at a rate of $20 per tonne, starting Jan. 1, 2017, increasing to $30 per tonne a year later.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall strongly opposes any attempt by the Liberals to impose a minimum national price on carbon, like a tax, insisting the federal government is breaking its commitment to work with provinces.
“The federal government’s collaborative approach does not seem very collaborative,” Wall said in a statement.
“They seem to be doing this at the urging of the United Nations, (which) they are more concerned about pleasing than are they concerned with the positions of their own provincial governments.”
McKenna has stressed the former Conservative government’s emissions target — to reduce GHG emissions 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 — would be the “floor” for the Liberals’ new plan. Canada’s current emissions trends mean the country will come nowhere near meeting the 2030 goals set by the Conservatives.
But she indicated Sunday during a television interview that Canada would stick with the Conservative targets, despite previously saying they were unambitious.
She confirmed the government would impose a national carbon price on provinces that don’t introduce their own system.
On Monday, Green party Leader Elizabeth May assailed the Liberals for retreating from a commitment to stronger climate targets, saying it was “nothing short of a disaster for the climate” and extremely frustrating.
“I’m massively disappointed, and I don’t think it’s acceptable … I think Canadians should push back,” May said.
“To pick a target in 2016 that is the same one left behind by Stephen Harper, that doesn’t fall due until 2030, is irresponsible and is an abandonment of leadership.”
Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose said the Liberals have “completely abandoned” their promise to work with the provinces on carbon pricing.
McKenna and the Liberals were in opposition crosshairs Monday in the House of Commons, under attack from the NDP for retreating on their commitment to stronger GHG targets, and facing accusations from the Conservatives of imposing new carbon taxes on provinces.
McKenna said the Harper government’s targets were “fake” because there was no plan to achieve them.
She is scheduled to meet with provincial and territorial counterparts in October, at which time they’ll receive reports from four working groups examining potential measures in clean technology, innovation, and jobs; carbon pricing mechanisms; mitigation opportunities; and adaptation and climate resilience.
The government is then expected to release its panCanadian plan later in the fall before a United Nations climate conference in Morocco in November.