Premiers making ‘political hay’ out of carbon pricing increase: Trudeau

Most of Canada’s premiers would rather complain and “make political hay” out of the federal carbon pricing program than propose viable alternatives for reducing emissions, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday as his government ignored calls to forgo its latest increase.

Trudeau was responding to Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey’s call for an “emergency meeting of leaders,” just the latest of several last-ditch provincial efforts to forestall a higher fuel levy.

Furey, the lone Liberal premier in Canada, is among several Atlantic leaders who joined with their counterparts in Ontario, Alberta and Saskatchewan in pushing Trudeau to abandon the $15-per-tonne increase, which went into effect Monday.

Many have long opposed any carbon levy, but say the affordability crisis plaguing Canadians is reason enough not to increase it further. Manitoba NDP Premier Wab Kinew said he is working on a request for his province to be exempted from the federal backstop.

Trudeau said the increase will also mean larger quarterly rebate cheques, which some families are next set to receive on April 15 to help offset the higher cost of fuel. He and other carbon pricing proponents say critics are ignoring the fact that many Canadian families receive quarterly rebats, which are more generous to low-income households, to help them offset the upfront costs. They also point to the costs climate change has imposed on Canadians through disasters such as wildfires and floods.

At a news conference in Toronto, Trudeau said the premiers have failed to propose any alternatives.

“All those premiers that are busy complaining about the price on pollution, but not putting forward a concrete alternative that they think would be better for their communities, are just playing politics,” he said.

In a letter to Trudeau, Furey defended the actions taken by his province to date to lower greenhouse gas emissions, saying Ottawa is going to have to make a “larger strategic investment” if it hopes to have “any meaningful impact” on Canada’s carbon output.