Pallister continues to decry ‘two-tier carbon levy’

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This article was published 25/10/2018 (2290 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For a second consecutive day, Premier Brian Pallister blasted the federal government over its carbon-tax policies, leading the Opposition NDP to surmise he is laying the groundwork for a lawsuit against Ottawa.

Pallister again claimed Quebec and Newfoundland are receiving concessions that are being denied to Manitoba.

He accused the feds of creating a “two-tier carbon levy that is higher west of the Ottawa River and lower east of the Ottawa River.”

Pallister said this is not how the federal government should deal with climate change.

“They’re dividing the country up. They’re trying to pit provinces against provinces. It’s wrong… it’s divisive,” the Manitoba premier told reporters after question period Thursday.

Pallister cited several examples where he considered Newfoundland had received a better deal, including the fact the Atlantic province is receiving an exemption from the carbon tax on offshore oil exploration, while industrial operations are not exempt in Manitoba.

He said Quebec’s cap-and-trade emissions program effectively limits levies paid there to $17 per tonne, while citizens in other provinces will be required to pay $20 per tonne. “I wait with great anticipation to hear when the federal government is going to impose a backstop (carbon tax) on the province of Quebec,” he said.

Manitoba abruptly abandoned its carbon tax Oct. 3, after Pallister said he was unable to convince Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to allow the province to maintain its proposed levy at $25 per tonne through 2022.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew said Thursday it appears Pallister is laying the groundwork for a lawsuit against the federal government on the tax issue.

“He seems to be picking another political fight with Ottawa, and then accusing them of playing politics,” Kinew said. “Is he going to launch this lawsuit he’s talking about? Why is he raising this?”

Asked Thursday whether he was leaning towards legal action against Ottawa, the premier replied: “I’ll give you more on that next week, probably.”

Manitoba received a legal opinion last year Ottawa is well within its rights to levy a carbon tax — although if a province produced a plan that proved to be just as effective at reducing greenhouse gases, its effort may pass a court test.

Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said the premier’s stance is divisive. “He’s the one that’s trying to play one half of the country against the other.”

If other provinces are getting a better deal, it reflects more “on the premier’s abilities as a negotiator” than anything else, Lamont said.

“There are other jurisdictions that had better deals. And maybe if they had better deals they pressed (Ottawa) harder or were willing to have more give and take with the federal government. That certainly wasn’t happening with the premier,” he said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca