The latest game between Premier Brian Gallant and Saint John Mayor Don Darling is just another case of dumb versus dumber

 http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/new-brunswick-carbon-tax-environment-serge-rousselle-1.4444269

No 'direct' carbon tax planned for consumers, environment minister says

New Brunswick will use some of its gas tax revenues to finance climate change programs

By Jacques Poitras, CBC News Posted: Dec 12, 2017 10:49 AM AT
  
28 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.


 
Shawn McShane

New Brunswickers will not pay a "direct" carbon tax. Weasel words.

So instead we will pay an "indirect" carbon tax. Indirect taxation is commonly used to generate tax revenue. Indirect tax is so called as it is paid indirectly by the final consumer: The New Brunswicker.

David Raymond Amos

@Shawn McShane YUP and "Coon said the policies don't go far enough"

Methinks he is baiting me into running against him next year N'esy Pas?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/premier-claim-ottawa-planned-province-bankruptcy-disputed-1.4444920

Premier's memory of scary financial precipice disputed by those in know

Former federal finance minister thinks someone would have told him if New Brunswick was on verge of disaster

By Robert Jones, CBC Posted: Dec 12, 2017 5:01 PM AT


64 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.

  

David Raymond Amos

Oh my my what a tangled web a mindless lawyer can weave to embarrass himself with N'esy Pas?

 
Doug Leblanc

Perhaps he has a medical problem with the truth (property tax, parlee beach, etc).... fortunately, this bold statement, if true, is easily backed up my documentation and will make his political opponent look extremely bad if this is in fact true, especially since Higgs (the finance minister at the time) has denied it. Of course, if it's all fake news, then our premier will provide no evidence and will have the real premier, Serge Rousselle, speak on his behalf.

David Raymond Amos

@Doug Leblanc "Perhaps he has a medical problem with the truth"

Nope Methinks professionals such as lawyers and politicians have no problem whatsoever sneaking around the truth if it behooves them to do so. Gallant is both a lawyer and a politician. N'esy Pas?

  
Jonas Smith

I think the Premier actually needs some serious help. He's got a good health plan for the next 10 months or so, so he should take advantage of it.

David Raymond Amos

@Elisa Hurb Methinks he has always suffered from the lust to spread BS thats why he became a lawyer and a politician N'esy Pas?

 

Mark Daniel Miller

I'm sure other Super-hero qualities will be revealed as the election nears.
I will sleep better tonight. Thanks Brian.
(Interesting way of giving the finger to the Mayor of Saint John!)

David Raymond Amos

@Mark Daniel Miller "Interesting way of giving the finger to the Mayor of Saint John!"

Methinks you have that backwards. This seems to me like an interesting way for the Mayor of Saint John to get even with the Liberals who have been abusing his city. N'esy Pas?

Harold Fitzgerald

@David Raymond Amos

Either way, the Liberals have neglected SJ for generations.

David Raymond Amos

@Harold Fitzgerald Have your friends in Saint John explain this to you sometime

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fundy-royal-riding-profile-1.3274276

Fundy Royal campaign targets middle class with focus on jobs
CBC News Posted: Oct 17, 2015 6:00 AM AT

  
Dianne MacPherson

Unbelievable !!!
Don't Organizations like Moodys/Standard & Poors
project a Province's credit rating ??
The possibility of 'bankruptcy' (NB) would have been
front page news all over the Country.
Just how dumb does Gallant think we are ??

David Raymond Amos

@Dianne MacPherson "Just how dumb does Gallant think we are ??"

Methinks he thinks we are as dumb as he is. N'esy Pas?

 

Ross Piercey

What’s Gallant tiring to imply, he’s a hero and saved the province from bankruptcy, from his performance to date he doesn’t need to convince anyone about being untrustworthy with tax payers hard earned money in a province that can’t afford a pot to pee in.

Content disabled.
David Raymond Amos

@Ross Piercey Perhaps we should pee on the lawyer's fancy shoes during the next election?

David Raymond Amos

@Ross Piercey Howcome you can use the word pee but I can't?

 

Randall Leavitt

Together the Liberals and Conservatives have taken us to the brink... maybe ruling parties should have to pay for any deficits out of their own funds, something to ponder.

David Raymond Amos

@Randall Leavitt FYI I have yet to read anything that PANB has wrote that was worth a second thought.  

Harold Fitzgerald

@David Raymond Amos

Then it's obvious you need help.

David Raymond Amos

@Harold Fitzgerald Well at least I ran for public office 5 times thus far and sued more lawyers than you name. What have you PANB dudes done other than insult me?

Harold Fitzgerald

@David Raymond Amos

Presented a platform that will save the Province. If you don't understand it or get behind it, you'll never get elected. That's a good thing.

 

Content disabled.

David Raymond Amos 

@Harold Fitzgerald By your reasoning then its is a good thing that folks keep electing the very corrupt Conservatives and Liberals instead of the ethical people who run against them and argue their lawyers in open court. N'esy Pas?

At least when I lose an an Independent my pride and integrity are still intact because I know I did the best I could without having to follow the orders of somebody I should not trust. After 15 years of playing politics and arguing legions of cops and lawyers in Canada and the USA my critics merely continue to call me names in domains such as CBC. However they only dare to do so after CBC had denied that my name was on five different ballots which definitely against their non-partisan mandate correct?

Why not challenge me during an election or intervene in a legal matter?

Here was CBC's latest trick
.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fundy-royal-riding-profile-1.3274276

Fundy Royal campaign targets middle class with focus on jobs
CBC News Posted: Oct 17, 2015 6:00 AM AT

Trust that your pals in PANB know I ran there in 2004 as well just ask Leroy Armstrong he ran for them in 2014 as Bev Harrison and Kelly Lamrock turned coat and ran for the NDP. Now the NDP boss Dominic Cardy works for Blaine Higgs and the woman I ran against in Fundy Royal is the new NDP boss because nobody else wanted the job. So much for platforms that folks can believe in EH?

Methinks I have the right to say that you get the governments you deserve N'esy Pas?

David Raymond Amos

@Harold Fitzgerald Why is it that I was not surprised to see CBC block my response to your insult?

Kenneth Hewer

by the looks of the well heeled and over fed politicos one could hardly tell there was a cash shortage.

David Raymond Amos

@Kenneth Hewer You noticed that too eh?

Methinks the liberals seem too fat dumb and happy to care what the electorate thinks these days because they believe the polls instead of the protesters outside their offices. N'esy Pas?

 

Samuel Porter

And they're laughing about it.

David Raymond Amos

@Samuel Porter Why not? Ya gotta love the circus. What the clowns do is particularly entertaining to me.

  

Lorne Amos

Desperate is as desperate says.

David Raymond Amos

@Lorne Amos Well said for an Amos

  

Marc LeBlanc

Thank you your Majesty for saving us from certain doom

David Raymond Amos

@Marc LeBlanc You do know he could not have done it without the assistance of Dominic Leblanc and Chucky Leblanc?

  

Tom Evans

Well now... that's interesting. One wonders if perhaps the late Jim Flaherty was watching the solvency of have not provinces. For what purpose I couldn't fathom.

David Raymond Amos

@Tom Evans Trust that Flaherty did not give two hoots for New Brunswick one way or another. He considered us defeatists just like his boss Harper still does

 

Joseph Vacher

lol Are you surprised really?

Thank your friends for the mess they made the last time they were in power. you gave theses crooks cabinet jobs

David Raymond Amos

@Joseph Vacher FYI I thought nothing surprised me anymore when it came to how dumb out politicians were in New Brunswick. However I had to rethink that when I got some Tim Horton treats in the mail with a signed card from Blaine Higgs and the Boyz in Blue

Methinks the next election in NB should be classified and the monumental battle of dumb versus dumber. Nesy Pas?


 
Craig O'Donnell

Unless Gallant has very solid proof of this, this should be the issue that finally sinks him.

Dianne MacPherson

@Craig O'Donnell
And we shouldn't have to wait
for an Election !!!!

David Raymond Amos

@Dianne MacPherson We won't have to wait long anyway

No 'direct' carbon tax planned for consumers, environment minister says

New Brunswick will use some of its gas tax revenues to finance climate change programs

By Jacques Poitras, CBC News Posted: Dec 12, 2017 10:49 AM A

Environment and Local Government Minister Serge Rousselle declined to say whether Ottawa has told New Brunswick whether its carbon plan will satisfy federal standards. (Jacques Poitras/CBC) 

New Brunswickers will not pay a "direct" carbon tax under the Liberal government's planned carbon-pricing system, says Environment and Local Government Minister Serge Rousselle.

Instead, a portion of the existing gas and fuel taxes will be "repurposed" to finance climate change programs, Rousselle told reporters Tuesday morning.

"We are not planning any new direct tax on consumers," the minister said.

But large industrial emitters in New Brunswick will be subject to a new federal carbon levy that could see them pay more.

Among those large emitters is NB Power, meaning ratepayers could see the Crown utility's carbon levy passed on to them on their electricity bills.

The federal government is requiring all provinces to implement carbon-pricing systems by next year to create incentives for consumers and industry to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.

Ottawa says it will impose its regime on any province that refuses to set up its own, and will "top up" any provincial plan that doesn't meet federal standards.

'We are confident that this incremental approach … is what is needed for New Brunswick.' - Serge Rousselle, environment minister

Rather than create its own carbon levy, New Brunswick will step back and let the federal government impose its measures on industry.

Under Ottawa's system, the emissions of an individual industrial facility — such as an oil refinery or an oil-fired generating station — will be compared to those of its counterparts in the same sector.
The plants that reduce emissions the most won't pay the levy and will earn credits they can sell to facilities with higher emissions or save for future use.

Other provinces may object

Green Party Leader David Coon said he was surprised by Rousselle's comments because he said the "repurposed" gas tax probably won't meet the federal requirement for an economy-wide price on carbon.

"I don't see how this will satisfy the federal requirements," Coon said. "It doesn't seem to meet the straight-face test to me."

Green Party Leader David Coon isn't convinced the Gallant government's carbon plan will meet federal requirements. (CBC)

And he said if Ottawa does approve it, other provinces that have established stricter carbon prices will probably object.

"Other provinces will expect a level playing field across the country, and this certainly doesn't sound like that," he said.

He also said the industrial levy system may not set strong enough emission-reduction targets to have any effect.

More details Thursday

Rousselle would not say whether Ottawa has told provincial officials if the blend of a redefined gas tax and the federal industrial levy will satisfy the federal standards.

"We are confident that this incremental approach … is what is needed for New Brunswick, and we are confident this approach is a good one," Rousselle said.

The federal government requires a carbon price to equal $10 per tonne of carbon dioxide in 2018, rising to $50 per tonne by 2022.

During a second scrum with reporters Tuesday afternoon, Rousselle said the repurposing of the gas tax will "respect the different increases during the next few years," but he would not say how that would work.

He promised more details on the system when he introduces legislation on Thursday.

'Taxpayers should have a lot of fear'

 

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation's Kevin Lacey believes the province has already reduced emissions enough to meet the 2030 goal. (CBC)

While Coon said the policies don't go far enough, Kevin Lacey, the Atlantic director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said Tuesday they go too far.

"When the minister talks about 'repurposing' taxes, taxpayers should have a lot of fear about these taxes going up," he said.

Opposition Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs said the Liberals were repurposing the gas tax now to avoid an unpopular new tax heading into next year's election.

"This isn't about anything more than, 'How do we avoid an upheaval in our province over a carbon tax that turns into an election issue?'" Higgs said.

He said the Liberals are likely planning to increase it if they are re-elected.

Lacey predicts that NB Power will end up passing on the cost of its carbon levy to ratepayers and that the industrial levy on private companies will "trickle down" to affect hiring and hurt the economy.

Lacey would not identify what kind of measure his group would advocate to get emissions down.

He pointed out that the National Energy Board says New Brunswick has already reduced emissions enough to hit the Paris climate agreement's goal for 2030, a 30 per cent reduction from 2005 emission levels.

But the province says emissions will not continue to decline to the Paris goals for 2050 without additional policy measures.

Premier's memory of scary financial precipice disputed by those in know

Former federal finance minister thinks someone would have told him if New Brunswick was on verge of disaster

By Robert Jones, CBC Posted: Dec 12, 2017 5:01 PM AT

Premier Brian Gallant sent a letter to Saint John Mayor Don Darling suggesting the province was so close to defaulting on its financial obligations in 2014 that Ottawa prepared contingency plans for how to deal with a bankruptcy. (Rachel Cave/CBC)

A startling new claim by Premier Brian Gallant that New Brunswick was close enough to defaulting on its financial obligations in 2014 that Ottawa prepared contingency plans for how to deal with a bankruptcy is being questioned by key players involved at the time.

"I was never presented with a formal contingency plan nor did I ask for one," former federal finance minister Joe Oliver said Tuesday from New York when asked if his department was preparing for the possibility of New Brunswick's insolvency during his term. 

"I'm not aware of any specific contingency plan prepared by the department."
Oliver was the federal minister of finance for 20 months in 2014 and 2015, including the first 13 months of Brian Gallant's government.

Saved from disaster

Last week, Gallant sent a letter to Saint John Mayor Don Darling expressing sympathy with the city's budget problems and suggested he too had faced serious difficulties but managed to steer the province away from the edge of financial disaster.

Darling released the letter to reporters Monday evening. ver three years ago," Gallant wrote, comparing Darling's budget problems to his own.

"The federal department of finance was considering contingency plans in the event that New Brunswick could no longer pay its bills."

Former federal finance minister Joe Oliver says he was never presented with a formal contingency plan to help the province.

Oliver said that alarming scenario is news to him.

He conceded the Finance Department is always studying the implications of a wide range of possible future events and he cannot say for sure any province's possible insolvency has not been looked at.
But he also believes he would have known if New Brunswick's problems had been urgent.

"It's the responsible thing to do," Oliver said of studying various disaster scenarios.

"I'm not precluding the possibility that the department had looked into that but clearly it wasn't of a level of risk that they felt they had to elevate it to my office."

No discussions

Opposition Leader Blaine Higgs, who was the provincial finance minister immediately prior to Gallant taking office, also disputed Gallant's story of New Brunswick being in danger of not paying its bills and Ottawa developing a plan to deal with that.

"We had no discussions of that at all [with Ottawa] because that was not the case," Higgs said.

Opposition Leader Blaine Higgs, who was the finance minister before Gallant became premier, says there were no discussions with Ottawa around New Brunswick not paying its bills and Ottawa developing a plan to deal with that. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

The provincial Department of Finance and the Premier's Office did not immediately respond to requests for more details on how close the province was to default and what kind of communications took place between the province and Ottawa about that possibility.

Concern about New Brunswick's deteriorating financial condition has been expressed multiple times by various critics, academics and financial experts over the last several years.

The province's debt has more than doubled since 2007, growing by $7.4 billion during the last three provincial governments.

The rate of growth has slowed considerably since Gallant took office late in 2014, but New Brunswick's debt has still expanded by more than $1 billion over the last three years.

Debt still a worry

In November, Auditor General Kim MacPherson expressed concern the debt is still growing and suggested worries about the province's solvency have not been addressed or resolved

"The long-term net debt growth is not sustainable, and continued action is required to address this problem," wrote MacPherson.

"It may eventually impact the Province's ability to meet its existing financial obligations, both in respect of its service commitments to the public and financial commitments to creditors, employees and others."