Houston, Trudeau butt heads
With the prime minister in Halifax on Tuesday, Premier Tim Houston published the letter he sent him last week criticizing the carbon tax.
“I fundamentally disagree that taxing Nova Scotians, who are largely unable to change their consumption behaviours, will improve our environmental outlook,” reads the letter Houston sent Justin Trudeau on Thursday.
“In fact, the last thing Nova Scotians need is another federal tax, especially when we have a better and more effective plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Houston went on to say that Nova Scotia has a less costly plan to fight climate change and its residents should not have to pay the federal carbon tax.
During a media availability in Halifax, Trudeau said Tuesday that he hadn’t seen the premier’s proposal to cut Nova Scotia’s emissions but previous plans put forward by the province hadn’t met federal targets.
“Any jurisdiction that has its own sufficiently stringent and rigorous plan that meets the federal benchmark, we will gladly let them do it,” said Trudeau.
“But for now the federal plan puts more money in the pockets of Canadians and fights climate change extremely efficiently.”
The plan pitched by Houston isn’t new; its components have been unveiled over the past two years.
It will see Nova Scotia build 1,000 megawatts of onshore wind and 300 megawatts of solar generation by 2030. While five coal-fired plants in the province will be closed, two will be converted to natural gas. A further 300 megawatts of battery capacity and 300 megawatts of either biofuel or green hydrogen would help get through spells when it’s not windy, along with a $1.4-billion grid tie-in with New Brunswick.
In the proposal sent to the prime minister, dubbed Still Better than a Carbon Tax, the provincial government argues that because most people have to drive to get to work, school and appointments, the carbon tax won’t result in behavioural changes that lead to significant emission reductions.
Provincial modelling shows the carbon tax will result in a two per cent emission reduction by 2030, while it says its plan will reduce emissions by 17 per cent.
It also shows that indirect costs of the carbon tax to households will be double that of the direct costs upon which federal rebates are based.
“Not only is our approach more effective in terms of its reduction of (greenhouse gases) but it will be more cost effective for Nova Scotia families than implementing a tax of over 0.14 cents per litre on fuel,” reads the proposal document.
“In 2025, financial impact models project an average increase per household expenses of $2,036, of which $658 are direct costs and $1,378 are indirect costs.”
But Trudeau stuck to his guns Tuesday, defending the tax without discussing the plan on offer from this province.
“The pan-canadian framework to fight climate change agreed to in 2016 laid out measures to put a price on pollution across the country and recognized a federal backstop where provinces did not or did not want to come up with their own plan,” said Trudeau.
“The federal plan puts a price on pollution, brings down emissions and spurs innovation and investments in the emissions reductions we need while at the same time putting more money in the pockets of Canadians.”