Premiers agree to working groups, one on carbon pricing

Canada’s premiers and territorial leaders have agreed to further study carbon pricing options so that each province or territory can set up their own rules for their own unique circumstances.

After spending heavily on hydro-electric transmission, Nova Scotia’s premier says his colleagues in Atlantic Canada don’t want to see carbon taxes levied on electricity. “We believe our carbon tax is actually in our power rates”.

“Canada’s climate change goals must be conducted in a way that does not significantly impact northern costs of living, undermine food security or threaten emerging economies”.

The working group is one of four announced by Trudeau in Vancouver after a day-long climate-change meeting with first ministers.

On the other side of the ledger, a senior federal official quietly grinned when asked about the compromise, saying it was enough to get everyone’s signature on a document that includes carbon pricing.

Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna said northern Canada’s contribution to the total amount of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions is “minute” and that the North suffers disproportionately from the effect of greenhouse gas emissions generated elsewhere.

Cullen says it would be a big mistake to fixate on carbon pricing because some people are using the contentious issue as a delay tactic to postpone change.

“I spent some time talking to people about how we really need to ensure that the economy is not separate from environmental discussions and that people understood that economic prosperity was critical for making progress on the issue of climate change”.

Yukon Premier Darrell Pasloski is also entering the meetings in Vancouver opposed to a national price on carbon.

Trudeau won an election last October on a pledge to do much more than the previous administration to curb emissions of greenhouse gases, which are climbing as firms exploit Canada’s vast crude-rich oil sands. He said provincial leaders must not lose sight of the ultimate prize – a sustainable future that doesn’t rely on fossil fuels. While he would prefer to keep Manitoba’s current collaborative cap-and-trade system, the premier is not ruling anything out.

A total of five Canadian provinces already have a carbon tax, and B.C. Premier Christy Clark said she sympathizes with those who are facing it for the very first time.

Northern premiers don’t like those kinds of ideas.

The provinces are collating a list of major projects that will help advance the climate change agenda. Heading into the meeting, there was dissent from several premiers about the federal government’s plan for a national carbon pricing scheme.

The federal government can unilaterally impose a tax, although Trudeau has been pushing for a pan-Canadian solution.

Trudeau is meeting with the Assembly of First Nations, the Metis National Council Council and the national Inuit group Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.