Ottawa: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that his government and the majority of Canada’s provinces had come to an agreement on a national carbon pricing plan.
Trudeau has been working on a national carbon pricing plan with the provinces for months amid worries about the United States heading in the opposite direction and how that could put Canadian companies at an economic disadvantage.
Earlier, outgoing US Vice President Joe Biden urged Canadian leaders to continue to treat efforts to combat climate change urgently despite the incoming administration of Donald Trump.
Trudeau yesterday called the framework agreement on a carbon tax historic. But Canada’s 10 provincial leaders are not unanimous in agreeing to Trudeau’s carbon tax.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall has refused to agree to the tax; Manitoba’s premier said he hasn’t signed on yet because it wants more money for health care; and British Columbia Premier Christy Clark balked at first before reaching a compromise.
Trudeau hopes to impose a national carbon tax that would rise to 50 Canadian dollars (USD38) a ton by 2022. Under a compromise deal, the carbon price would pause at British Columbia’s existing US 23 level in 2020, when an independent expert panel will look at how the plan is evolving.
“The new Trump administration, most assuredly, will not be implementing a carbon tax,” Saskatchewan Premier Wall told reporters. “We compete with the Americans in our province for drilling rigs. Our farmers compete with their farmers.
Biden told Trudeau and Canada’s provincial premiers that whatever uncertainty exists surrounding Trump’s policies, he is confident America will continue to make progress on a low-carbon future.
He said that’s because many of the trends are market driven and have already taken hold and because states and cities are taking action.
Trump has called global warming a “hoax” and says he plans to abandon the US commitment to reduce carbon emissions as part of the international agreement signed last year in Paris.
“I understand that many of you are concerned about what the new administration will do,” Biden said as he sat around a table with Trudeau, provincial premiers and aboriginal leaders gathered for a meeting on climate change in Ottawa.
“Whatever uncertainty exists around the near-term policy choices of the next president, I am absolutely confident the United States will continue making progress in its path to a low-carbon future.”
Biden said he was excited to meet with provincial leaders because sometimes states lead the way. He also pointed to companies like Google which he said announced a new goal to power itself with 100 per cent renewable energy starting next year.
PTI
