Following the announcement that the federal government would pause the carbon tax on home heating fuel for the next three years, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs was quick to say it’s time to scrap the carbon pricing system and focus on reducing emissions outside of the country’s borders rather than within.
“The policy is flawed and now let’s look at it in its entirety,” he told reporters on Oct. 31. “Let’s look at the impact we can have on world emissions, not the 1.5 per cent of emissions that we have in Canada.”
Higgs is referring the the export of natural gas in order to offset coal-based power elsewhere in the world, specifically referencing China and a report that they built two new coal plants a week in 2022.
The idea is not a new one according to a researcher at the University of New Brunswick.
It’s what’s known as “global bridging,” according to Heather Millar, a political scientist at UNB who researches the politics of carbon pricing and climate policy. It first gained popularity in the late 2000s and early 2010s with provincial governments in British Columbia and caught on quickly with the natural gas industry.
Millar says while it’s true that switching from natural gas from coal does lower greenhouse gas emissions in the short-term, the path to moving away from gas-powered electricity generation is less clear considering the logistics involved in switching fuel sources.
“Often these kinds of bridge narratives are very bullish on the transition to natural gas, but are less clear on how we’re going to transition off natural gas,” she said. “Investments in electricity production are huge capital investments that we stay with for long periods of time.”
“When you shift to gas you have a benefit compared to coal but to what degree does that prevent jurisdictions from investing in other low-carbon alternatives such as biomass, such as wind and solar, or even newer technologies such as tidal or small modular reactors?”
Higgs applauded the federal government’s decision to pause the price of carbon on oil home heating fuel for three years, but says that it shows the entire system is flawed and should be scrapped. He argues that the impact on the economy and the cost of living is too great and the impact on emissions too small.
Higgs has also joined the premiers of Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia in calling for a meeting with the federal government to discuss removing carbon pricing from all home heating sources.
When asked what methods governments should employ to reduce emissions in the province Higgs said that advancing small modular nuclear reactor technology could help, but that the province’s small share of global emissions means exporting natural gas would have a bigger impact than any specific measure aimed at curbing GHG emissions locally.
“That would cut emissions more than any single thing that we’re doing today,” he said. “World emissions, not talking about the bubble we live in in New Brunswick and Canada, because as a total we aren’t going to change anything.”
Canada was responsible for about 1.6 per cent of global GHG emissions in 2021. New Brunswick’s for 1.8 per cent of the country’s. However when looked at on per capita basis, Canada was the top polluter in the world in 2019 and was the tenth largest polluter by total GHG emitted.
The country is the fourth largest producer of oil and sixth largest producer of natural gas.
Millar says that Higgs’ comments arguing for the country and the province to shoulder less responsibility for reducing emissions is a form of what’s known as “climate delay,” a spiritual successor to climate denial.
“It’s a narrow sort of perspective on the role that Canada plays,” she said. “We are one of the major oil and gas producing nations in the world.”
Liberal leader Susan Holt said that Higgs’ suggestion is “irresponsible” and that New Brunswick and the country should strive to do its part. She affirmed her party’s support for carbon pricing, but said they may look at restoring a “made in New Brunswick” provincial carbon pricing system if elected.
“If we’re going to ask other players around the world to make change than we have to be prepared to take those same actions for change at home,” she said.
“I think it would be hypocritical to ask other countries and other places to do more for the environment if we’re not willing to do that stuff ourselves.”
Higgs and his ministers are quick to point to the province’s Enhanced Energy Savings Program which includes free insulation upgrades and heat pumps for households earning under $70,000 a year. New Brunswick has also already met the national target of reducing GHG emissions by 40 per cent below 2005 levels, though much of that reduction coincided with a reduction in industry following 2008.
Green leader David Coon says more can be done to help New Brunswickers transition and doesn’t agree that climate action and making life more affordable for the province are mutually exclusive, calling for more investment on public transit within cities and across the province.
“Much of the kind of climate actions that we need reduce the amount of energy that we use which saves us money on our energy costs, saves us money on heating costs, saves us money on electricity costs, saves us money on driving costs,” he said.
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