Federal Tories bet on economy, not climate, as election issue
Unclear if pricing carbon resonates with voters
Could this be the year that climate change makes it back as a federal election issue?
The urgency is there. Canada is under pressure to do its part leading up to the United Nations conference in Paris in December to nail down a global accord, oil pipeline plans keep getting delayed, and Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are certainly eager.
The federal Liberal leader has proposed to reduce carbon emissions by imposing a national price on carbon. He argued it’s necessary medicine to win approval for oil pipelines important to Alberta, so far stalled by the environmental lobby.
The momentum is aided by perceptions — held even in many quarters of the oil industry — that continuing uncertainty over long-promised federal climate action in the oil and gas industry is doing more harm than having a plan.
But in Calgary Thursday, Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford poured cold water on the Liberal plan, which he said would result in “punitive costs on the Canadian economy regardless of competitiveness” and would increase prices “on every single Canadian — from coast to coast to coast — for gas, groceries and everything else families buy,” at a time the economy remains fragile.
“To comply with his nationally imposed, mandatory targets, Mr. Trudeau envisions the federal government ‘coordinating’ and ‘overseeing’ the efforts of Provinces and Territories implementation of carbon pricing,” Mr. Rickford said in a speech in the same venue — the Calgary Petroleum Club — where Mr. Trudeau introduced his plan.
“And to encourage them along, Mr. Trudeau is promising to supply provinces and territories a new, medicare-sized, transfer payment, which as we all know is currently $34 billion per year, give or take.”
Mr. Rickford, who before his talk held meetings with energy industry representatives in Calgary and Vancouver, said the sector wants a reduced tax environment, not an increased one — the reason Ottawa agreed to accelerate the capital cost allowance to encourage investment in Canada’s LNG sector.
The Conservatives will not impose unilateral taxes or regulatory changes that “would put the economic stability of the energy sector here in Canada at risk,” he told reporters.
Mr. Rickford said the Conservatives’ approach to climate change has been to move in lockstep with Canada’s trading partners to ensure the country’s economy remains competitive.
“America has moved forward [on climate change] with China,” he said. “We would encourage them to explore those options with us in Canada and with our Mexican counterparts. I feel that things are starting to head in that direction, and they should.”
Meanwhile, he said Ottawa has made progress in other areas, including: success at the European Union on a Fuel Quality Directive that no longer discriminates against Canadian oil; agreements with the U.S. to collaborate in 11 areas of shared interests such as greater energy security, environmental responsibility and sustainability; and stronger relationships in Asia that resulted in more than $54 billion in Canada’s resource sectors between 2008 and 2013.
Mr. Rickford also said Ottawa managed to boost Canada’s energy exports while ensuring energy is produced “responsibly,” such as by eliminating duplication with provinces in regulatory reviews, strengthening environmental protection and working more closely with aboriginals.
As for Ottawa’s environmental record, he suggested Canada has nothing to be ashamed of.
Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions have gone down by 5.1% since 2005 — even as
Policy gap has forced provinces ... to come up with plans
Canada’s economy grew by 10.6%, he said.
Almost two-thirds of Canada’s electricity comes from renewable sources — the highest rate of any G7 nation — and Canada is one of the fastest growing clean-energy markets in the world.
But on climate change, Mr. Rickford presented no new ideas.
The policy gap has forced provinces, including Alberta, to come up with plans of their own.
Alberta, for one, is reviewing its carbon tax on large emitters, though plans have been repeatedly delayed, most recently by the collapse in oil prices.
The Conservatives are clearly calculating that Canadians will continue to put more stock on the economy than on climate change, particularly with the oil price crash hammering Alberta’s economy.
It’s not a bad bet. The last time the carbon tax was a federal election issue was in 2008, when then-Liberal leader Stéphane Dion fought for the ‘ green shift’ carbon tax plan. It didn’t end well, for Mr. Dion or for the Liberals.
The push for a tougher climate change plan has accelerated since then. But it remains hard to tell whether it’s become a burning preoccupation for voters or whether it remains a cause for the green fringe. Assuming it takes hold as a campaign issue, the federal election should clear up whether Canadians are prepared to put jobs on the line to make it happen.