It is neither necessary nor constitutional to impose a one-size fits all national carbon tax on a province that has its own plan to reduce GHG emissions, says Alberta Premier Jason Kenney

National Post (June 28^th)  The federal government’s carbon pricing scheme is constitutionally sound and has the critical purpose of fighting climate change, Ontario’s top court (Ontario Court if Appeal) ruled in a split decision on Friday.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Grant Huscroft said climate change did not amount to an “emergency case” and warned against allowing rhetoric to colour the constitutional analysis.

“Carbon pricing is only one approach to addressing (greenhouse gas) emissions — one of many policy options that might be chosen, whether alone or as part of a broader strategy,” Huscroft said. “There are many ways to address climate change and the provinces have ample authority to pursue them.”

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I have checked online, with media in BC … as well as the BC Governments own media release department, however as of 1pm today) there has been no word from Premier John Horgan regarding the ruling.

Not so Jason Kenney, Premier of Alberta; he has issued a statement regarding the Ontario Court of Appeal upholding the federal carbon tax:

“We are reviewing the decision, but our initial reaction is that this second split decision, following the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal’s split decision in May, has again rejected the federal government's bid for a sweeping power to regulate GHG emissions in the provinces.”

“… a majority of the court upheld the constitutionality of the federal government’s national carbon tax on the narrower grounds that Parliament has the power to establish ‘minimum national standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.’

Kenney went on to say that how this would apply to Alberta was unknown at this time.

“Frankly, the previous Alberta government was missing in action and failed to participate in this Ontario Court of Appeal case. As a result, Alberta did not contribute to the record before the court”, said Kenney.

He stated that the Alberta government agreed with Justice Huscroft’s observation that ‘nothing stops the provinces from taking steps to reduce their GHG emissions, and hence the emissions of Canada as a whole, and they are in fact doing so.’  

The government also agreed with the Appeal Courts decision that, ‘the environment is an area of shared constitutional responsibility … leaving … ‘scope for provincial standards that meet or exceed that minimum.’

According to United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney, “It is neither necessary nor constitutional to impose a one-size fits all national carbon tax on a province that has its own plan to reduce GHG emissions”.

“Alberta has a strong and credible plan to reduce GHG emissions without punishing Albertans with a retail carbon tax on people trying to heat their homes or drive to work. This makes a federal carbon tax redundant here.

Kenney concluded by stating that, “We are committed to our right to make policy choices in our own jurisdiction. We will be making that case to the federal government, to the Supreme Court of Canada and to the Alberta Court of Appeal in our own reference case this fall.”