'Better late than never': Alberta glad B.C. premier has changed stance on carbon tax

The Government of Alberta was glad to hear that British Columbia’s premier has changed his tune on the consumer carbon tax at the provincial level.

Speaking Thursday, B.C. Premier David Eby said the province would end the consumer carbon tax if the federal government removed the legal requirement for it.

Nate Horner, Alberta’s finance minister, said there’s now “no reason” for the federal government to keep the requirement for the provincial retail carbon tax – an initiative the province has been an opponent of.

“Better late than never, and now there’s no time like the present for the federal government to move on this,” Horner said.

“The two main points are: this isn’t working as an environmental policy, it’s hurting the affordability of Canadians, and there has to be a better way.”

The questions about the permanency of the carbon tax arose after federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said his party would be drafting its own climate plan but wouldn’t say whether he would keep the consumer carbon tax if his party forms government after the next election.

Prime Minister Trudeau criticized Singh, saying the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the carbon price.

Speaking at an unrelated event on Friday, Trudeau said that eight-out-of-10 Canadians in provinces with a federal price on pollution get more money back than they spend on the tax through the Canada Carbon Rebate.

“We put a world-leading price on pollution across this country that does two things, it drops emissions and it puts more money back in the pockets of the middle class and people working hard to join it,” Trudeau said.

'Their policy, not ours'

Moshe Lander, an economics professor at Concordia University and Alberta resident, says that with affordability on the minds of many Canadians, the carbon tax is an easy target.

“If you’re looking for things to pick a fight with, then it’s anything that is essentially removable that would ease people’s cost of living concerns, and so the carbon tax is an easy one,” Lander said.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre, the Liberal government’s top opponent, has made “axing the tax” a key part of his party’s platform, a policy which Lander says will hit lower-income earners the hardest, potentially costing jobs and environmental progress.

“It is not a costless exercise, to just get rid of this. It will have generational consequences,” he said.

While Lander believes the carbon tax policy works, he says the Liberals have done a bad job of selling it to Canadians, which is why other provincial and federal governments are distancing themselves from the policy.

“If you’re going to back away from the Liberals then this is something that you can say, ‘Well it’s their policy, not ours, and so if elected we would do ourselves away with this,’” he said.

“It’s not surprising that the NDP realized that if they’re no longer propping up the Liberal government, why should they be supportive of something that, while it would be good for their environmental credentials, is not good for affordability issues?”

For Albertans, a family of four would receive $450 quarterly payments – $1,800 in total – through the rebate program in 2024-25, according to the Government of Canada.

Albertans are set to receive the largest rebate in the country this year, among participating provinces.

Horner said that while some Albertans could be financially benefiting from the rebates, he questioned whether that should be the focus of the tax.

“What’s the point of the tax? Is the point of the tax wealth redistribution or is it supposed to be an environmental policy?” Horner said.

“There (are) other tools afforded to the government to take care of the vulnerable, this is driving up the cost of everything that we consume, from energy to food to clothing.”

While Lander noted that the carbon tax isn’t a be-all-end-all solution to address climate change, in its absence, Canada wouldn’t be doing what it’s supposed to do to even try.

“Will the carbon tax reverse climate change, will it solve global warming, will it put things back to the way they are? No, and it’s foolish to try and sell that that’s what would happen,” he said.

“But if we don’t at least try, it’s not going to fix itself.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Chelan Skulski, CTV News Vancouver and The Canadian Press.