Newfoundland’s premier asks Trudeau for meeting over carbon price alternatives

By The Canadian Press on April 1, 2024.

OTTAWA – One of seven premiers who asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to pause the consumer carbon price increase is now asking him for a meeting to discuss alternatives.

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey penned a letter to Trudeau over the weekend asking for an “emergency meeting of leaders.”

The four Atlantic premiers and the leaders in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario asked Trudeau not to increase the federal consumer carbon price by $15 per tonne today.

Many of them have long opposed any carbon levy, but say the affordability crisis plaguing Canadians is reason to halt the increase.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has spent the last month hosting “axe the tax” rallies across the country with the same message.

Trudeau has said conservative premiers are lying about the role the policy is playing in inflation and has challenged his provincial critics to present alternative plans to reduce emissions.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2024.

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