Ontario Premier Doug Ford, left, and United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney greet supporters on stage an anti-carbon tax rally in Calgary, Friday, Oct. 5, 2018.Jeff McIntosh / The Canadian Press Premier Jason Kenney says Alberta’s carbon tax has about two weeks to live. Kenney says the Carbon Tax Repeal Act is to be introduced during next week’s legislature sitting and will have a proviso to end the tax by the end of the month. By May 30th there will no longer be an Alberta carbon tax, Kenney said Monday at a news conference outlining some of the legislation coming from his new United Conservative government. An end to the tax brought in by the former NDP government will put an estimated $1.4 billion a year back in the pockets of taxpayers, he said. The levy is charged on home heating using fossil fuels and on gasoline at the pumps. Ending the tax would open the door to the federal government imposing its tax, as it has done with four other provinces that wouldn’t bring in their own carbon pricing: Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was in Edmonton last Friday, wouldn’t say if his government would immediately charge the federal tax if Alberta ditched its own, but stressed that no province will be exempt. Opposition Leader Rachel Notley said the repeal sets the stage for a made-in-Ottawa, a made-by-Justin-Trudeau carbon plan to be imposed on Albertans. I don’t think it’s wise, the NDP leader said. And we will certainly make the case vigorously that it’s not wise. Getting rid of the carbon tax was a central policy pillar in Kenney’s successful campaign last month to win the election. He defeated Notley’s party, achieving a strong majority. On the campaign trail, Kenney promised to file an immediate court challenge on the constitutionality of the federal carbon tax if he won the election. He promised to file the court papers by April 30; however, his cabinet was not sworn in until that day. In the two weeks since, no challenge has been filed. Kenney said Monday the lawsuit has been delayed and may not be filed at all. He said his government wants to review court decisions in Saskatchewan and Ontario before it decides if it will challenge the federal tax in court. The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal recently ruled in a split decision that the federal tax imposed on provinces without a carbon price of their own is constitutional. The Ontario government is waiting for a decision on its court challenge.
Origin: Alberta premier Jason Kenney says provincial carbon tax will die May 30
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Saskatchewan court says the carbon tax is constitutional
Car exhaust contains lethal carbon monoxide, so its important to make sure exhaust systems are working properly.Sue Reeve A Saskatchewan court has ruled that the federal government has the power to fight climate change on a national level, despite objections from the province. The decision allows the government to set a minimum national price on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and hit specific provinces with a carbon tax if they do not enact their own measures. The province filed the motion with the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal in February, arguing that the carbon tax intruded on provincial jurisdiction, and was unconstitutional because it was not applied equally to all jurisdictions. Premier Scott Moe said that “climate change itself was not on trial,” but the province’s lawyers argued that a national tax would give the federal government power over Saskatchewan’s natural resources and its industrial regulations. In a 3-2 decision released today, the court sided with Parliament and said the carbon tax is constitutional, and is actually a regulatory charge on emissions, rather than a tax. Lawyers for the federal government had argued that a national carbon tax was required because the provinces can’t respond to GHG on their own. The carbon tax isn’t applied to all provinces, just to those that have not enacted their own carbon-pricing schemes that meet the national standards – which are Ontario, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Alberta. Ontario has already launched a similar court case and is awaiting a ruling, while the premiers of the other three provinces have said they will launch legal actions of their own. The dissenting judges on Saskatchewan’s court said that the tax should be struck down, and that “federalism in Canada means that all governments of Canada must bring all law-making power to bear on the issue of climate change, but in a way that respects the division of power.” It’s expected that the Saskatchewan case, along with those of other provinces, will eventually end up at the Supreme Court of Canada, where all would likely be assembled into one challenge. The federal tax took effect on April 1, 2019 and is currently $20 per tonne of CO2, with an increase of $10 each year until 2022. Saskatchewan said the tax has or will raise the price of gasoline, heating oil and electricity, while the federal government said the majority of families will receive more in rebates than they pay for the carbon
Origin: Saskatchewan court says the carbon tax is constitutional
Ontario gas stations face fines if they don’t display premier’s carbon tax sticker
Rob Phillips, Minster of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, left; and Greg Rickford, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines, with an example of the sticker that will be placed on the pumps for participating gas stations was unveiled during a press conference on carbon tax for home heating and gas on Monday April 8, 2019.Veronica Henri / Postmedia Buried in Ontario’s budget bill are fines of up to $10,000 per day for gas station operators who don’t display government-mandated stickers about the price of the carbon tax. The budget contains a new piece of legislation called the Federal Carbon Tax Transparency Act that would require gas stations to display the sticker on each pump. The sticker shows the federal carbon tax adding 4.4 cents per litre to the price of gas now, and rising to 11 cents a litre in 2022. The legislation lets the government send inspectors to see if gas stations are properly displaying the stickers and sets out penalties for non-compliance. Individuals could be fined up to $500 each day, or up to $1,000 a day for subsequent offences. Corporations could be fined up to $5,000 a day, or up to $10,000 a day for subsequent offences. Obstructing an inspector would carry a fine of at least $500 and up to $10,000. This is a new low, even for (Premier) Doug Ford, NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns said in a statement. It’s bad enough that he’s wasting public money on partisan promotion, but now he’s threatening private business owners with massive fines for failing to post (Progressive) Conservative party advertisement. Similar critiques came from federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, who denounced the fines as ridiculous. Not only is this a violation of freedom of speech, it will cost small business owners across the province who don’t want to take part in this government propaganda campaign, McKenna said in a statement. This should be denounced by all political parties as a new low for our political discourse. The provincial Tories are slamming the federal carbon tax at every turn, and while Ford has said he is staying out of the upcoming federal election, he directly linked the two Friday in a speech to the Ontario General Contractors Association. When you go to the ballot box think of your future, he said. Think of the country’s future. Think of your children’s future, because we cannot accept this carbon tax. Energy Minister Greg Rickford’s director of communications said the stickers are about transparency. But critics note that the stickers don’t mention carbon tax rebates. Amir Attaran, a law professor at the University of Ottawa, called the government proposal a farce and said the legislation breaches the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The government can mandate a no-smoking sticker because of public safety, but they cannot mandate a partisan political statement without destroying freedom of expression unconstitutionally. Spokespeople for Suncor Energy, which operates Petro-Canada gas stations, and Husky Energy said they would comply with the legislation. The Canadian Fuels Association, which represents gas retailers, declined to comment. The carbon tax is expected cost to a typical household $258 this year and $648 by 2022. Residents of provinces with the tax will be getting rebates on their income tax returns that start at $128 annually and increase for people with spouses or dependents at home. The federal government says a family of four in Ontario would get $307 this year. Ontario is one of four provinces, including Manitoba, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, where Ottawa imposed the levy because they opted not to impose their own pricing schemes on carbon emissions. Ontario is challenging the carbon tax in court this
Origin: Ontario gas stations face fines if they don’t display premier’s carbon tax sticker
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