Local officials remain anti-carbon tax

By COLLIN GALLANT on April 19, 2021.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Regional politicians are still hopeful they can scrap the carbon tax despite a recent defeat from the Supreme Court and the federal Conservative Party’s adoption of a similar carbon price plan.

Federal party leader Erin O’Toole announced his environmental plan to reviews ranging from cool from some in his own party to verging on ridicule from some right-of-centre commentators.

This comes two weeks after delegates to the party’s national policy convention rejected including stronger language on climate change to broaden appeal outside of its core Western Canadian base of support

Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes called the move an outright betrayal of Alberta.

“It’s further proof that the values of the mainstream parties in Ottawa are harmful to Alberta and Western Canada,” said Barnes following a grand opening ceremony at a local business on Friday.

“It’s clear there is only a minuscule difference between the two main federal parties.

“Albertans aren’t getting recognized for our great environmental record, the risks we take and our oil and gas industry.”

He also criticized a recent move by his party to remove no-till credits for farm producers from the province’s carbon offset program.

“We need to stand up for Alberta values if it’s clear the two main (federal) parties won’t,” he said.

Conservative caucus member MP Glen Motz was in transit from Ottawa on Friday and unavailable for comment.

At the same morning event, another United Conservative MLA, Michaela Glasgo of Brooks-Medicine Hat said she couldn’t offer an opinion on the federal party’s plan without more details (only an overview has been released).

“I’ll listen to my constituents on this one,” she said.

“It’s just come out yesterday, but we do need balance and to create some certainty for our industry. We do know that Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax will not provide that.”

“I’m glad to see Mr. O’Toole doing something, but I have heard concern from some constituents about the plan.”

Fighting the national price of carbon is a founding principal of the United Conservative Party and Premier Jason Kenney, who campaigned heavily for O’Toole and his pledge to end the pricing scheme if they defeat the Trudeau-led Liberals.

Since the Liberals were returned with a minority, the Alberta government lowered some requirements on heavy industry in its TIER program to charge for emissions and gained “equivalency” for a methane reduction plan, meaning it met or exceeded federal minimums.

The provincial party ran on a promise to scrap the Alberta levy early in its term and did so in the spring of 2019. That led to the imposition of the national carbon price for consumers in early 2020, and in March, the Alberta government and several other province’s lost an appeal to the Supreme Court that argued the federal government was acting outside its jurisdiction.

Glasgo was undeterred in light of recent setbacks.

“We ran on a pledge to scrap the tax and we’ll continue to keep that promise,” said Glasgo. “I’m very excited and think we’ll present with a very innovated program.”

The CPC plan would also reduce the carbon price to $20 per tonne and cap it at $450 for consumers. The current pricing is $40 and that would rise steadily each year to $170 by 2030. The federal government states 90 per cent of the revenue is returned directly to consumers (rebate is set at $981 for a family of four in Alberta this year, and $1,000 in Saskatchewan).

The CPC plan suggests a carbon price on things like gasoline and home heating collected from individuals would be hived off into an account, then refunded on certain purchases. Bus passes and electric cars were cited in CPC literature.

Medicine Hat Mayor Ted Clugston has long said the federal carbon tax and before it, the Alberta Carbon Levy put in place by the former NDP government, was harmful to the economy.

“I was surprised they took that route,” said Clugston on Friday. “At $20 per tonne they were maybe trying to look for middle ground, but it’s not productive. It doesn’t serve any purpose, because you can’t tax your way out of a problem.”

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