Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips says the province is “still standing” a day after its carbon tax took effect, and Albertans who opposed the levy could start seeing rebate cheques within days.
But Opposition Wildrose critic Don MacIntyre says the majority of Albertans continue to oppose the tax and that the science isn’t settled on whether humans are responsible for the majority of climate change.
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The tax officially began Sunday, adding 4.5 cents per litre of gasoline at the pumps as well as hiking costs for home heating.
Phillips held a news conference Monday where she addressed what she felt was “misinformation” about the levy, a day after deputy premier Sarah Hoffman held a similar media availability in the legislature building.
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Like Hoffman a day earlier, Phillips stressed the link between the NDP government’s new tax on carbon and the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in November.
MacIntyre, however, says pipelines were still built before there were carbon taxes, and that pipeline approvals should be based on science rather than politics.