Premier Rachel Notley says Alberta backs the concept of a national carbon price but won’t support the federal Liberal government’s plan without progress on pipelines.
In Ottawa Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that the federal Liberal government would set a minimum carbon price for provinces in 2018 of $10 per tonne, rising to $50 by 2022.
In the House of Commons, Trudeau said it will be up to provinces how they implement the plan.
Notley’s NDP government will introduce its own broad-based carbon tax based on the equivalent of $20 per tonne of carbon emissions on Jan. 1, 2017.
In a statement, Notley said that “in principle,” Alberta supports a national price in that it “ensures that we are all making the same effort, and it ensures that no one is penalized economically.”
But Alberta, which introduced its sweeping climate strategy in part to win public support for new oilsands pipelines, can’t give its support to the federal plan now, she said.
“Alberta will not be supporting this proposal absent serious concurrent progress on energy infrastructure, to ensure we have the economic means to fund these policies,” said Notley.
“It is time for the Government of Canada to act on this issue. Albertans have contributed very generously for many years to national initiatives designed to help other regions address economic challenges. What we are asking for now is that our landlock be broken, in one direction or another, so that we can get back on our feet.”
The Trudeau government must make a decision on Kinder Morgan’s planned expansion of its Trans Mountain pipeline to the Pacific coast by December.
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