The country’s premiers met in Halifax to discuss issues affecting the country, with the unfairness of the Trudeau carbon tax break at the top of the agenda.Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said each province is using different methods to reduce their carbon footprint and it's unfair to punish provinces that have already invested in natural gas, which reduced their carbon footprint.“We may have different views with respect to, you know, what is the most effective tool to reduce emissions in our area of the nation. In the products that we produce and provide to the world in our case? That's not what this conversation is about,” said Moe.“This conversation is about fairness for Canadian families and so if you walk back in time. There's jurisdictions up here that have made significant investments in hydropower, for example, and other types of electricity that are available for their residents in the early 80s. We made the investment in Saskatchewan converting from home heating oil to natural gas to the degree of about 85% of Saskatchewan residents now utilize natural gas and they deserve to be treated fairly with respect to the carbon tax. The Canadian carbon tax policy as well.”Moe continued that the policy is not the problem but the application of it. “And so the issue isn't the policy. It's how the policy is being applied and up until now largely has been somewhat fairly applied across the nation,” said Moe.“I don't think anyone can say this today. And we have said that if the federal government isn't going to extend that carbon tax pause to the other forms of home heating, we do have a crown utility in Saskatchewan and we'll extend that pause to those folks that utilize natural gas in Saskatchewan.”Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pointed out her province also converted to natural gas for home heating and the phase-out of coal cost Alberta billions of dollars.“I would just say that Alberta has history similar to Saskatchewan, having taken great effort many years ago to convert to natural gas home heating. But in addition, the early phase-out of coal, which has cost our province literally billions of dollars to do it seven years early, are only to be surprised by additional taxes being levied at the federal level,” said Smith.“We believe very strongly that natural gas should be treated as a cleaner fuel. We know that the export of LNG internationally is going to be able to reduce dirtier fuels, coal and wood and dung and in fact, we've already seen what happens in jurisdictions that don't have access to clean natural gas. They convert back to coal.”Newly elected Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said the federal carbon tax policy is no “silver bullet” to reducing a province’s carbon footprint.“We all care about climate change. And I think we would love it if there were a silver bullet on climate change,” said Kinew.“But the carbon tax is not a silver bullet. When it comes to climate change, rather, it seems like it's going to be the hard work of many separate individual initiatives that is going to move the ball forward in terms of a climate-friendly future.”
The country’s premiers met in Halifax to discuss issues affecting the country, with the unfairness of the Trudeau carbon tax break at the top of the agenda.Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said each province is using different methods to reduce their carbon footprint and it's unfair to punish provinces that have already invested in natural gas, which reduced their carbon footprint.“We may have different views with respect to, you know, what is the most effective tool to reduce emissions in our area of the nation. In the products that we produce and provide to the world in our case? That's not what this conversation is about,” said Moe.“This conversation is about fairness for Canadian families and so if you walk back in time. There's jurisdictions up here that have made significant investments in hydropower, for example, and other types of electricity that are available for their residents in the early 80s. We made the investment in Saskatchewan converting from home heating oil to natural gas to the degree of about 85% of Saskatchewan residents now utilize natural gas and they deserve to be treated fairly with respect to the carbon tax. The Canadian carbon tax policy as well.”Moe continued that the policy is not the problem but the application of it. “And so the issue isn't the policy. It's how the policy is being applied and up until now largely has been somewhat fairly applied across the nation,” said Moe.“I don't think anyone can say this today. And we have said that if the federal government isn't going to extend that carbon tax pause to the other forms of home heating, we do have a crown utility in Saskatchewan and we'll extend that pause to those folks that utilize natural gas in Saskatchewan.”Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pointed out her province also converted to natural gas for home heating and the phase-out of coal cost Alberta billions of dollars.“I would just say that Alberta has history similar to Saskatchewan, having taken great effort many years ago to convert to natural gas home heating. But in addition, the early phase-out of coal, which has cost our province literally billions of dollars to do it seven years early, are only to be surprised by additional taxes being levied at the federal level,” said Smith.“We believe very strongly that natural gas should be treated as a cleaner fuel. We know that the export of LNG internationally is going to be able to reduce dirtier fuels, coal and wood and dung and in fact, we've already seen what happens in jurisdictions that don't have access to clean natural gas. They convert back to coal.”Newly elected Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said the federal carbon tax policy is no “silver bullet” to reducing a province’s carbon footprint.“We all care about climate change. And I think we would love it if there were a silver bullet on climate change,” said Kinew.“But the carbon tax is not a silver bullet. When it comes to climate change, rather, it seems like it's going to be the hard work of many separate individual initiatives that is going to move the ball forward in terms of a climate-friendly future.”
