Danielle Smith, Conservative premiers continue to spar with Ottawa over carbon tax
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is among a group of Conservative provincial leaders continuing to push back against the federal carbon tax hike as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accuses them of "not telling the truth.”
On Wednesday, the PM said his pollution-pricing opponents are "misleading Canadians" when they don’t acknowledge the April 1 price increase coincides with an increase to the quarterly federal rebate households receive.
But according to Smith, that rebate is still not enough.
“Because the carbon tax is not rebated to businesses, every small business has to take the cost of that fuel and has to take the cost of the natural gas heating (and) work it into their prices.”
“That’s why it’s inflationary.”
- The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App
- Top headlines on Canadian politics, all in one place
Tensions have been high on Parliament Hill amid escalating Conservative-led opposition to the carbon tax, ahead of the incoming hike that will see the $65-per-tonne carbon price increase to $80 per tonne.
Premiers of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan have joined Smith in publishing letters asking to appear before the Liberal-led House Finance Committee to air their concerns.
With their request left unheeded — MPs are not sitting this week and most committees do not have meetings scheduled — Conservative MP and Government Operations and Estimates Committee chair Kelly McCauley decided to invite them instead.
Smith will appear on Thursday morning.
Is the carbon tax working?
Trudeau and his government have long insisted the pricing model is effective.
“Not only are we fighting climate change and reducing emissions, we’re putting more money back in the pockets of families,” he said Wednesday.
Both of those points have been disputed — but it’s the former that is a little trickier to parse out.
Only a handful of studies have looked into the effects of the policy on emissions reductions, and the vast majority are focused on European countries.
When CTV News asked a Calgary economist if the levy was helping fight the climate emergency, he answered with a short “sort of.”
“Given time, it will result in a reduction in consumption and a move towards cleaner energy,” Moshe Lander, a professor of economics at the University of Calgary, said.
“But in the short term, there’s very little change that’s going to happen because people are locked into their natural gas providers and addicted to their cars.”
It’s also tough to quantify because the tax isn’t Canada’s only climate-focused policy, and because the changes people make as a result are not easy to measure.
Between 2019 and 2021 – after the carbon price was first applied and through the latest year for which there is data – Canada's emissions overall fell by 53 million tonnes, but how much of that was due to carbon pricing is hard to say.
Lander believes the years-long political battle has hurt perception — and the opposition isn’t solely to blame for it.
“(The federal government) has completely mishandled what the objective is here, and how to sell it to Canadians, and that’s what’s giving the space for other parties that want to get rid of it,” Lander said. “It’s just tapping into anger and bad salesmanship.”
With files from CTVNews.ca’s Rachel Aiello
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton attacked in prison
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton was attacked in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a 'major assault.'
DEVELOPING Defence rests without Donald Trump taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial
Donald Trump's lawyers rested their defence Tuesday without the former president taking the witness stand in his New York hush money trial.
Passenger killed, 30 injured as Singapore Airlines flight hits severe turbulence
One passenger was killed and 30 injured after a Singapore Airlines SIAL.SI flight from London hit severe turbulence en route on Tuesday, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Bangkok, officials and the airline said.
Feels like mid-30s in parts of Canada, while other areas expecting snow
Anything is possible this week, as far as Canada's weather is concerned, with forecasts ranging from scorching heat in some parts of the country to rain and snow in others.
Canada's inflation cools to 3-year low of 2.7%, in boost for rate cut bets
Canada's annual inflation rate slowed to a three-year low of 2.7 per cent in April, matching expectations, and core measures continued to ease, data showed on Tuesday, likely boosting chances of a June interest rate cut.
'Documents are fraudulent': Graceland is not for sale, Elvis Presley's granddaughter says in lawsuit
Riley Keough, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, is fighting plans to publicly auction his Graceland estate in Memphis after a company tried to sell the property based on claims that a loan using the king of rock ’n’ roll's former home as collateral was not repaid.
Trump campaign calls 'The Apprentice' 'blatantly false,' director offers to screen it for him
Donald Trump's reelection campaign called 'The Apprentice,' a film about the former U.S. president in the 1980s, 'pure fiction' and vowed legal action following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. But director Ali Abbasi is offering to privately screen the film for Trump.
Nestle to sell $5 pizza, sandwiches in the U.S. for Wegovy, Ozempic users
Nestle NESN.S will market a new, US$5 line of frozen pizzas and protein-enriched pastas in the United States which it says it designed specifically for people taking drugs such as Wegovy or Ozempic for weight loss.
What is BORG drinking, and why is it a dangerous trend? An expert explains
If you've been to a party lately and haven't seen someone drinking a BORG, you're likely not partying with college students.