Canada’s carbon price is set to increase next month despite several premiers asking Ottawa for a pause.
The carbon price is a “cornerstone policy” of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s minority Liberal government, said Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, a senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
But provincial leaders like Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Premier Andrew Furey are calling for a halt over affordability concerns.
So how much is the carbon price going up by? Here is what you need to know.
Why is the carbon price increasing?
The looming April 1 carbon price hike is not an “unexpected increase,” Mertins-Kirkwood said.
“The idea is that by putting a price on pollution, people will use fewer fossil fuels, and that drives down overall emissions from the economy,” Mertins-Kirkwood told Global News.
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Annual increases make up the government’s overall pricing scheme. In fact, increases are planned until at least 2030.
“A province or territory can decide to voluntarily adopt the federal pricing system,” the government said on its website.
“If a province or territory decides not to price carbon pollution or proposes a system that does not meet the minimum national stringency standards, that jurisdiction is subject to the federal pricing system to ensure there is an appropriate price on carbon pollution across Canada.”
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British Columbia, Quebec and the Northwest Territories are the only regions that have their own carbon pricing systems in place.
Where will the carbon price increase be reflected?
The planned April 1 increase will be most noticeable at the gas station and on energy bills in provinces and territories where the federal backstop plan applies, Mertins-Kirkwood said.
“It’s still a smaller effect on your energy bills than just the global price of oil, or even things like corporate profitability,” he said.
“It’s one factor, but on its own, the kind of effects of the carbon price are overblown when it comes to household affordability.”
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Mertins-Kirkwood added Canadians will also see “indirect effects” of the carbon price, pointing to transportation costs that can filter down into food prices.
Inflation has been cooling in Canada after peaking at 8.1 per cent in June 2022; inflation came in at 2.9 per cent in January, Statistics Canada said, and as part of that, food inflation at the grocery store cooled to 3.4 per cent, down from 4.7 per cent in previous two months.
However, the prices of food purchased from restaurants were up 5.1 per cent annually in January, the agency said, down from growth of 5.6 per cent in December.
Why are premiers calling for an April 1 pause?
In a letter to Trudeau, Furey said that while his government is “deeply invested” in environmental sustainability, the planned increase “is causing understandable worry as people consider how they will manage the mounting financial strain.”
Ontario Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford, Alberta United Conservative Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, who leads the conservative Saskatchewan Party, each signaled their endorsements for Furey’s call by reposting the letter to their own X accounts on Tuesday.
“If they don’t start putting money back in people’s pockets instead of filling their pockets, guess what? They’re going to get annihilated, as I’ve said before, they’re done. They’re done like dinner,” Ford told reporters in Pickering, Ont., on Wednesday.
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Furey asked for Ottawa to address ramifications currently faced by families and “to not compound them,” urging the government to pause the increase until inflation cools, interest rates lower and pressures on the cost of living “significantly cool.”
The federal Conservatives have criticized carbon pricing for much of its existence, with Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre promising to remove it if the party takes government in the next election.
Trudeau didn’t signal a pause was coming when speaking to reporters in Calgary on Wednesday.
“The price on pollution was designed to do two things: send a clear signal to investors, to companies, to Canadians that it makes good sense to invest in reducing our carbon emissions and saving energy, and a price signal is the clearest way of doing that,” he said.
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“The second goal of the price on pollution was to make sure that middle-class families and vulnerable families across the country weren’t carrying the brunt of that price on pollution, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.”
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Mertins-Kirkwood said a pause wouldn’t drastically change affordability.
“The politics here are totally out of sync with what the actual policy is. Now, of course, it doesn’t mean every household is better off. If you’ve got a big house that you heat with gas, you got two big trucks in the driveway, you are going to pay more, but that actually doesn’t describe most households in Canada,” he said.
“Corporations, the private sector, make investment decisions based on the carbon pricing schedule. They are counting on it going up, and that’s an important factor for investors. If you put a pause on this policy arbitrarily for one year, that’s going to affect those sorts of investment decisions, and that is going to have an impact on our economy.”
So, how much is the carbon price set to go up?
Right now, the carbon pricing plan is set at $65 a tonne. As of April 1, it will be $80 a tonne, and will continue to rise annually by $15 until it reaches $170 a tonne by 2030.
At the pumps, the April 1 hike will add roughly three cents to the cost of gas, Mertins-Kirkwood said.
It’s a “much smaller increase than you’d normally expect through a fluctuation of oil prices,” he said.
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Part of the government’s carbon pricing system is the Canada Carbon Rebate, formerly known as the climate action incentive payment. Ottawa rebranded the program in February, which sees quarterly tax-free payments delivered to eligible Canadians.
The government has said about 80 per cent of Canadians are getting more from the rebates than they pay in carbon pricing. Ottawa’s rebate impacts those in provinces where the federal carbon price applies.
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Mertins-Kirkwood said the carbon price is a “classic case” of a policy that’s great on paper, but is bad politics in practice.
“We all see the cost and we don’t really see the benefits, versus shutting down a coal plant, where we see the benefit and none of us experience the costs directly, even though of course there are costs to the economy. My point here is that the discussion around carbon pricing is overblown,” he said.
“It distracts from a lot of the work we need to be doing, both on the climate front and also on the affordability front. If we’re concerned about affordability, there’s way more important things than pausing the carbon price. We need to invest in housing, we need to invest in public transit, there’s so many other problems we have as a country that we should be focused on, and carbon pricing is frankly not that high up the list.”
EDMONTON – The legendary k.d. lang got the band back together at the Canadian Country Music Association awards show.
Lang teamed up with the Reclines for the first time in 35 years to belt out “Big Boned Gal” from their last album together in 1989.
Clad in a blue and green western-style dress, lang strut across the stage in Edmonton to embody the “big boned gal from southern Alberta.”
The awards show saw Alberta’s MacKenzie Porter and Ontario’s Josh Ross take home hardware for being best female and male artists of the year.
Ross also won entertainer of the year and single of the year for “Trouble.”
Ontario artist Jade Eagleson won album of the year for “Do It Anyway.”
The James Barker Band from Woodville, Ont., won fans’ choice and group of the year.
During their acceptance speech, frontman Barker hinted at new music and a possible tour in 2025.
Ross says he and his band play roughly 150 shows every year and are never home, but says taking home entertainer of the year made the hard work worth it.
Porter won for female artist of the year and top video for “Chasing Tornadoes.”
The female artist win ends the five-year streak of Tenille Townes being awarded the coveted hardware.
Porter had been nominated seven times previously for the award in the past decade but hadn’t won until now.
The artist from Medicine Hat, Alta., says it takes a lot of hard work and hustle to succeed as a female in the country music industry and gave a shout out to her fellow singers and her newborn daughter.
Joining the two artists in the winners’ circle was Ontario singer-songwriter Owen Riegling, who won for breakthrough artist of the year.
The show began with American artist and co-host Thomas Rhett being dubbed an honorary Canadian by Edmonton Oilers players Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl.
Rhett donned an Oilers jersey that was gifted to him by the pair.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
EDMONTON – Ontario country artist Jade Eagleson has won album of the year at the 2024 Canadian Country Music Association Awards in Edmonton.
The singer from Bailieboro, Ont., was up for six awards alongside Alberta’s MacKenzie Porter.
Eagleson took home album of the year for “Do It Anyway” and says he’s thankful to his wife and management team for helping him reach the level he’s at.
The James Barker Band from Woodville, Ont., also won fans’ choice and group of the year at the award show, held in Edmonton.
During their acceptance speech, frontman Barker hinted at new music and a possible tour in 2025.
Another Ontario crooner, Josh Ross, has taken home a trio of awards, receiving entertainer of the year, male artist of the year and single of the year.
He says he and his band play roughly 150 shows every year and are never home, but says taking home entertainer of the year makes the hard work worth it.
Porter took home female artist of the year, ending the five-year streak of Tenille Townes being awarded the coveted hardware.
Porter had been nominated seven times previously for the award in the past decade but hadn’t won until tonight.
The artist from Medicine Hat, Alta., says it takes a lot of hard work and hustle to succeed as a female in the country music industry and gave a shout out to her fellow singers and her newborn daughter.
Joining the two artists in the winners’ circle was Ontario singer-songwriter Owen Riegling, who won for breakthrough artist of the year.
The show began with American artist and co-host Thomas Rhett being dubbed an honorary Canadian by Edmonton Oilers players Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl.
Rhett donned an Oilers jersey that was gifted to him by the pair.
The return of k.d. lang and the Reclines was expected to be a highlight of the show.
The appearance will mark the first time the Alberta songstress has teamed up with the band in 35 years and is tied to lang’s induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
The awards show is back in Alberta’s capital for the first time since 2014. It was held in Hamilton last year and in Calgary in 2022.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.
VANDERHOOF, B.C. – British Columbia Conservatives are promising changes they say will bring more stability to the province’s struggling forest industry.
Leader John Rustad announced his plan for the sector a week before the official launch of the provincial election campaign, saying a Conservative government would do away with stumpage fees paid when timber is harvested and instead put a tax on the final products that are produced.
Rustad said Saturday that under a provincial Conservative government, a small fee may be charged upfront, but the bulk would come at the end of the process, depending on what type of product is created.
He also promised to review how wildfires are managed, as well as streamline the permit process and review what he calls the province’s “uncompetitive cost structure.”
“British Columbia is by far the highest cost producers of any jurisdiction in North America. We need to be able to drive down those costs, so that our forest sector can actually be able to do the reinvestment, to be able to create the jobs and make sure that they’re still there to be able to support our communities,” he said.
The governing New Democrats meanwhile, say eliminating stumpage fees would inflame the softwood lumber dispute with the United States and hurt forestry workers.
In a statement issued by the NDP, Andrew Mercier, the party’s candidate in Langley-Willowbrook, said Rustad failed to support the industry when he was in government under the former BC Liberals.
“Not only will Rustad’s old thinking and recycled ideas fail to deliver, his proposal to eliminate stumpage would inflame the softwood lumber dispute — punishing forestry workers and communities,” Mercier said, accusing Rustad of ignoring the complexity of the challenges facing the industry.
The softwood lumber dispute between the U.S. and Canada stretches back decades. In August, the U.S. Department of Commerce nearly doubled duties on softwood lumber.
International Trade Minister Mary Ng has said Canada has taken steps to launch two legal challenges under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
Rustad said a provincial Conservative government would push hard to get a deal with the United States over the ongoing dispute “whether it’s with the rest of Canada or by itself.”
He said his party’s proposed changes are in the name of bringing “stability” and “hope” to the industry that has seen multiple closures of mills in rural communities over the last several years.
Most recently, Canfor Corp. decided to shutter two northern British Columbia sawmills earlier this month, leaving hundreds of workers unemployed by the end of the year.
According to the United Steelworkers union, Canfor has closed 10 mills in the province since November 2011, including nine in northern B.C.
Jeff Bromley, chair of the United Steelworkers wood council, said Saturday the idea of changes in favour of taxing the final product has been floated in the past.
He said the finer details of the Conservative plan will be important, but that the system needs to be improved and “new ideas are certainly something I’d be willing to entertain.”
“Something needs to happen, or the industry is just going to bleed and wither away and be a shadow of its former self,” Bromley said.
“Politics aside, if (Rustad) can come up with a policy that enables my members to work, then I would be supportive of that. But then I’m supportive of any government that would come up with policies and fibre for our mills to run. Period.”
When Canfor announced its latest closures, Forests Minister Bruce Ralston said the sector was a “foundational part” of the province and the current NDP government would work to support both local jobs and wood manufacturing operations.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024
