Reckless. Immoral. Inhumane.Those are the words that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is using to describe the Liberal government’s carbon tax.Speaking before the House standing committee on government operations and estimates, Smith said Thursday that taxing basic essentials such as natural gas on home heating in the dead of winter demonstrates a clear lack of compassion on the part of the federal government.“This isn't just reckless, it's immoral, and it's inhumane and the added pressure will ruin countless lives' futures and dreams. It's a weight that Canadians can't bear. And that's why Alberta has been calling on the federal government to eliminate the carbon tax since 2019,” she said.“I think most Albertans look at it as the government is taking $1 and promising to give back 75 cents and everybody knows that that's not a good deal.”.“I don’t see a value to continue to mitigate a very poor policy,” he said. The carbon tax is “putting more hurt on people by taking money only to give it back.”New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs.Smith was surprisingly well treated by the committee members, especially compared to New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs — a Conservative — who received a decidedly rougher ride in his own testimony for benefitting from the home heating oil carve out while complaining about gas tax increases.One committee member accused him of pandering to New Brunswickers on one hand while taking federal dollars on the other.“I see that you've recently changed your stance on this so that you're more interested in playing politics and actually looking after the affordability of New Brunswickers and tackling climate change,” he said.In response, Higgs said reducing emissions in New Brunswick, much less Canada, isn’t going to have very much impact on global emissions. Instead, he suggested it would be more price tidal to export LNG from the Saint John Respol plant and claim Article 6 credits under the Paris Accord.“I don’t see a value to continue to mitigate a very poor policy,” he said. The carbon tax is “putting more hurt on people by taking money only to give it back.”.Smith didn’t receive the same treatment. She was generally afforded a level of decorum and respect that wasn’t even granted to Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe on Wednesday.All three were last-additions to the operations and estimates committee after they were rejected by the finance committee the day before. Although they don’t see eye-to-eye on most issues, Taylor Bacharach, an NDP member from British Columbia seemed genuinely interested in Smith’s emissions reductions proposals — she has plenty — with respect to exporting LNG, hydrogen and ammonia to Asia, as well as Alberta’s efforts to collect the industrial portion of the carbon tax and redistribute it into technology funds.That didn’t stop some Liberal members of the committee — Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk — from trying to pin last summer’s forest fires on Smith’s climate policies, but it didn’t go anywhere..“You had 299 days of smoke days and in the city of Edmonton both records absolute records. Can you tell us whether climate change caused these wildfires and the smoke days?” he asked.“And furthermore, the most important question, Madam Premier, what are you doing to fight climate change and the forest fires and the drought in your community that is devastating land in your community and communities?”Not that it mattered; he was cut off by committee chair Kelly McCauley — a Conservative — and asked to submit his questions in writing.
