Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe appeared at a House of Commons committee Wednesday morning to testify against the carbon price increase, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling on premiers opposed to the increase to present their ideas for addressing climate change.
Trudeau sent a letter to seven premiers who are calling for a pause on the upcoming carbon price increase, including Newfoundland and Labrador’s Liberal Premier Andrew Furey.
Global News obtained a copy of the letter from a government source.
“Yes, people need to fight climate change, but any province that wants to put forward a similarly robust way to fight climate change, but do it in a way that works for them is more than welcome to and has been from the very beginning of our price on pollution,” Trudeau said at a press conference in Vancouver Wednesday when asked about the letter.
“Conservative premiers in general would rather complain and attack and mislead Canadians for narrow political gain because of both an ideological objection apparently to fighting climate change, but also to an unwillingness to recognize that we are putting more money in people’s pockets with rebate checks.”
During the committee appearance, Liberal MP and parliamentary secretary to the agriculture minister Francis Drouin raised the letter with Moe.
“The prime minister asked you to come up with a plan, so I’m pleading with you come up with a plan that makes sense for Saskatchewan farmers,” Drouin said.
“We did,” replied Moe.
Moe said they looked at having their own carbon price in the province but found all options too costly for families and industry.
Through his testimony, Moe talked about Saskatchewan efforts to curb emissions. This includes the development and export of farming techniques and machinery to enhance the carbon sequestration capabilities of soil. The premier also talked about Saskatchewan’s industrial emissions policy, which involves a carbon credit system and heavy emitters paying into an innovation fund, which companies can withdraw from to pay for green investments.
On the fuel charge, Moe argued it is inflationary and pointed to Statistics Canada’s February consumer price index (CPI) report, which said Saskatchewan saw lower inflation after the province stopped collecting the carbon price on home heating. A move that is against the law requiring that remittance, and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault called “immoral.”
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“You can imagine what would happen to our CPI nationwide if we were to pause first of all, and then remove the consumer carbon tax on Canadians,” Moe said.
In his letter, Trudeau pushed back against the inflation argument.
“There are several factors that affect inflation. It is critical to dispel the misconception that Canada’s carbon pricing system is a significant driver of inflation — because that is demonstrably false. According to the Bank of Canada, the carbon price is only responsible for about 0.1 percentage points of annual inflation,” Trudeau wrote in his letter.
The letter says that the federal government is also worried about the cost of living crisis, and defends the carbon price rebate system, citing a Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) report from March 2023 that says eight out of 10 Canadians get more back than they pay.
With the calls to at least pause the carbon price at $65 per tonne, forgoing the planned increase to $80 per tonne, Trudeau said the premiers are welcome to come up with alternative plans that meet emission reductions goals and use the federal backstop.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre frequently cites the same PBO report as Trudeau in his attacks on the carbon price. The report also provides a broader economic outlook that says most Canadians see a net loss due to decreased employment and investment income.
Speaking to the operations committee after Moe, PBO Yves Giroux said this decreased investment income is primarily seen in the oil and gas, transport and other sectors hit by the fuel charge. Overall, Giroux told the committee it’s a “small negative impact.”
The PBO is working on an updated cost analysis of their March 2023 report, frequently cited by both Trudeau and Poilievre.
Giroux was asked if his office has done costing on the specific impact of climate change. Speaking in French, Giroux said that work is in its “embryonic stage” and the process has just begun on estimating those costs. He added what is included also is very much up to interpretation.
Debate or political stunt?
Moe, along with the premiers of Alberta, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, all sent letters to the chair of the finance committee, Ontario Liberal MP Peter Fonseca, requesting a chance to present their cases against the April 1 carbon price increase before it takes effect.
Fonseca told Global News he did not receive requests from committee members to call an emergency meeting, which would have been required for the premiers to be able to appear.
However, the premiers were invited to take part in government budgetary estimates discussions at the operations committee, chaired by Alberta Conservative MP Kelly McCauley.
This resulted in a heated debate ahead of Moe’s appearance.
“It is a shame and a farce that we learned of tomorrow’s meeting from Global News and not the committee of this chair.” Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk said.
Global News first reported that the premiers had been invited to appear at the operations committee before the agenda was published by the House of Commons.
The operations committee was scheduled to meet Wednesday already for ongoing study on the government’s main financial estimates. McCauley argued that this carbon price discussion fits that mandate because it deals with government financial policy.
“You unilaterally called a meeting that was not necessary this week because your team is after clips,” Kuzmierczyk said.
Moe is the lone premier who appeared by videoconference on Wednesday. Alberta’s Danielle Smith and New Brunswick’s Blaine Higgs are scheduled to appear Thursday. Houston is not on the agenda.
— with files from Global News’ David Akin
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