Despite years of calls for destruction, Alberta Prime Minister Danielle Smith said the new prime minister’s move to kill consumers’ carbon tax is not confused.
Smith told reporters in Calgary on Friday that the real test of the new federal government would be how to impose carbon pricing on industrial polluters.
“Every time I hear the new prime minister speak, he says he doesn’t think [industrial] The price is high enough. ” she said.
“If we end up seeing a massive increase in industrial carbon tax, I don’t think it will be any benefit.”
Carney posted an order on Friday, ending the consumer portion of the carbon pricing plan hours after he was sworn in.
Those who get kickbacks on carbon prices will receive a final payment in April — about the same time, the price will increase from $80 per ton of greenhouse gas emissions to $95.
Carney promised an initiative in the leadership movement, while also pledging to increase taxes on industrial polluters, one of the moves Carney promised.
“We need elections”
Alberta has had its own version of the industrial carbon tax for more than a decade, and Smith said it is not clear whether the increase under the federal plan would increase provincial taxes.
Smith said the uncertainty and Carney’s commitment to strengthening taxes on industrial pollution is why she wanted to call an election immediately.
“That’s why we need elections – to be clear about how bad he is about to punish the oil and gas sector and how the new industrial pricing plan he talks about in the leadership competition looks,” she said.
Over the years, Smith and her co-conservative former Jason Kenney said Ottawa’s carbon pricing plan should be blamed on cost of living issues across the country, especially in Alberta.
When Jason Kenney was prime minister in 2019, Alberta proposed Ottawa’s pricing plan to declare it unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court favored the federal government in 2021.
Last fall, Smith’s administration announced it would retake Ottawa to a carbon tax, but this time it was an exemption for those who use home heating oil primarily in Atlantic provinces.
“The federal carbon tax has always been unfair, but now it’s also unconstitutional to adopt its selective approach, and the impact on Alberta will only get worse as costs increase,” Smith said at the time.
Smith also previously called on Ottawa to exempt farmers from using propane to dry grains and gas to heat barns.
Saskatchewan Prime Minister Scott Moe did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the tax outcome, but also called on the federal government to repeal it, saying the tax made life more expensive and harmed businesses.
In 2021, Moe’s Saskatchewan government also brought Ottawa to the Supreme Court, challenging the price, but failed in a ruling that believes the tax was imposed.
After being sworn in, Prime Minister Mark Carney killed the unpopular consumer carbon tax and sent a strong message to the United States that Canada would defend its sovereignty in the face of U.S. tariffs, and President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened to become the 51st state.
Last year, Saskatchewan stopped levying provincial profits from Ottawa after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government exempted homemade oil users from paying for payments by the Liberal government.
Then Ottawa and Saskatchewan reached an agreement that secured half of the federal government’s owed until the dispute was resolved.
Opposition New Democratic leader Carla Beck welcomed the end of the carbon tax on Friday and said in a statement: “Great. Finally.”
Eliminating consumer fees will reduce the cost of a litre of gas by 17.6 cents and reduce the cost of 15 cubic meters of natural gas.