NDP says Tory regs on carbon emissions could also be considered a tax

OTTAWA – After days of attacks, the NDP is turning the tables on the Conservatives, saying fines enforced by Environment Canada for companies that exceed emissions regulations can also be considered a tax.

In recent days, the NDP has faced an onslaught from the Conservatives, who argue that the Opposition’s plan for reducing carbon emissions would be a “tax on everything,” because any company exceeding certain emission levels would have to purchase pollution credits, with the revenue going to the government.

But the carbon regulations the Conservatives have slowly been rolling out are backed by the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) which, according to Environment Canada, can slap fines on companies that exceed limits.

The NDP’s environment critic is hard-pressed to find a difference between revenue generated through fines and revenue collected through the NDP’s proposed cap and trade system.

“In both situations, we do have money going back to the state. So there isn’t a difference in that sense,” Megan Leslie told Global News. “They’re playing games with words… If they’re saying cap and trade is a tax, then under that logic, fines would also be a carbon tax or some kind of environmental tax.”

The Conservatives, however, say the difference is that the fines under the protection act are there to guarantee compliance, whereas the NDP’s plan seeks to generate revenue for the federal government.

“Our government’s objective is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, not derive revenue,” a spokesman for Environment Minister Peter Kent said.

For days, the phrases “carbon tax” and “cap and trade” have been buzzing through the halls of Parliament.

After cutting through the semantics, the question centres around the impact and cost of regulating carbon emissions, both on businesses and consumers.

The Conservatives started the mudslinging when they began referring to the NDP’s plan for reducing emissions as a “carbon tax.” A carbon tax, government MPs and ministers say, is the equivalent to a job- and economy-killing “tax on everything.”

The NDP’s 2011 campaign platform, however, refers to its plan as a cap and trade system — the same language used in the Conservatives’ 2008 campaign platform.

The Opposition’s cap-and-trade system would set a price on carbon and allow emitters to buy pollution credits from the federal government, then buy or sell credits depending on their actual emission levels.

Had Canadians elected an NDP government, the plan would have resulted in $21.5 billion in federal revenue between 2011-12 and 2014-15, according to the party’s costing document released alongside its platform.

The Conservatives were also once planning to implement a cap and trade alongside the United States, according to their 2008 election platform. The party eventually abandoned the policy when the United States pulled out.

Today, the Tories have taken a sector-by-sector approach to cutting emissions, with separate regulations applied to different sectors.

Earlier this month, Environment Minister Peter Kent announced regulations for coal-fired power plants.

The minister had been considering regulations between 360 and 425 tonnes per gigawatt hour of electricity generated, and settled on 420 tonnes — a level critics slammed, describing them as inadequate.

The limits were set on the high side of the scale to ensure Canada’s power plants can continue to supply adequate amounts of electricity, Kent said at the time.
The Conservatives have also implemented regulations on emissions for heavy vehicles.

The oil and gas sector, as well as several other major sectors are still without specific regulations.

Provincially, Alberta and Quebec have already adopted cap and trade systems. Ontario and Manitoba have signalled they, too, will be moving in that direction.
Still, the Conservatives are certain the NDP’s proposed policy would destabilize the economy.

“Inserting a price on carbon right now has cost implications for consumers across the board,” said Michelle Rempel, the parliamentary secretary to Kent. “This means increasing gas prices, increases in groceries. That’s why we’ve been pursuing a sector-by-sector regulatory approach.

The silver lining in all this, the NDP’s Leslie said, is that the mudslinging has opened a door to talk about carbon emissions.

“I think cap and trade is great because it gets the polluter to pay,” she said. “These are nuances about environmental regulation we can discuss.”

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