https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tasker-leblanc-manitoba-carbon-tax-flip-flop-1.4850752

Ottawa slams Manitoba's 'flip flop' on carbon tax after Pallister pulls out of climate plan

Liberal government committed to its plan to tackle the 'real threat of climate change'

John Paul Tasker · CBC News · Posted: Oct 04, 2018 3:43 PM ET

1221 Comments

 
bill chagwich

Manitoba's Premier has his voters purse in mind from emptying , Trudeau has his hands tearing that purse from their hands, to fill his parties entitlements

Troy Mann

@bill chagwich

Manitoba decided they can no longer afford a tax cut to individuals so big business can keep polluting and let our children pay for the clean up.

Conservatives cheering about a tax cut for wealthy big business and a tax increase for the middle class.

Troy Mann

@James Fitzgibbon

Fake news is all cons have

Gordon MacFarlane

@Troy Mann

Liberal hero Trudeau backed off on going after big polluters.

He reduced the amount big oil would have to pay and foisted the burden on to hard working middle and lower income Canadians.

And the Liberals all applaud.

And then misrepresent the facts to try and make conservatives look bad.

David Amos

@Troy Mann Cry me a river

David Amos

@Troy Mann "Fake news is all cons have"

Methinks somebody should inform you that this is CBC which is overseen by a liberal mandate N'esy Pas?

 
Kevan Cleverbridge (Hill 70)

Canadians are sick and tired of Trudeau trying to shove a terrible policy down their throats. It's a scam plain and simple.

Vladimir Smejkal

@Kevan Cleverbridge (Hill 70)
That's right and climate change is a hoax, right?

Troy Mann

@Kevan Cleverbridge (Hill 70)

Stop pretending you speak on behalf of canadians. You don't and never will

David Amos

@Kevan Cleverbridge (Hill 70) "It's a scam plain and simple."

YUP

David Amos

@Vladimir Smejkal "That's right and climate change is a hoax, right?"

Nope Its just not caused by peoplekind

Thomas Perry

@Kevan Cleverbridge (Hill 70)

Yes, and sick and tired of the sick and twisted globalist parasites.

David Amos

@Troy Mann "Stop pretending you speak on behalf of canadians. You don't and never will"

Methinks I should ask what makes you think you do N'esy Pas?

 
Jack Richards
Morneau will not even come clean on how much their carbon pricing will cost each Canadian

Peter Stolper

@Jack Richards according to harpers adviser a lot of people will come out ahead

Troy Mann

@Pete Lindsay

NDP turned it into a cash grab. NDP and cons can't be trusted.

David Amos

@Jack Richards "Morneau will not even come clean"

Its not in the liberal DNA to do so

David Amos

@Peter Stolper "according to harpers adviser a lot of people will come out ahead"

You call that a believable source?

 
John Myro

I see the Liberals are using the same old shame on you guilt tactics to whom dare to oppose their oh so superior ideology

Troy Mann

@John Myro

Let me know when they start to drag victims out apart if their ambulance chasing politics and we will call them equals with cons

David Amos

@Troy Mann "ambulance chasing politics"

Methinks that is an interesting term for a liberal in NB to use these days N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@John Myro Methinks the liberals are flogging a dead horse when it comes to shaming folks in order to justify more taxation to pay for their new pipeline N'esy Pas?

 
Arthur Gill

I am sick and tired of liberal MPs spouting off about the "cost" of inaction on climate change by talking about "forest fires, droughts and floods" etc. to defend their carbon tax plan.
Really....do liberal MPs think a Canadian carbon tax is going to be the magic bullet that stops global climate change?
Get real!!!
We need to do our part but that doesn't mean Trudeau's carbon tax is the answer.

Peter Stolper

@Arthur Gill you just said we have to do our part and the carbon tax is part of it

Peter Hill

@Arthur Gill
Stopped acid rain but you don't want to talk about the successes.

Arthur Gill

@Peter Stolper
No....I said we have to our part....you said a "carbon tax" is part of it not me.
I have yet to see any factual evidence to indicate how "Trudeau's" carbon tax plan will impact Canadian emmissions nor have I seen an economic impact study.
All I have seen from Trudeau is a bunch of ideolically driven drivel.

Byron Whitford

@Peter Hill

You think that Acid rain was eliminated through a tax on the consumer? Nope. It was eliminated through a combination of regulation and an INDUSTRIAL Cap and Trade program for industrial emitters (The same program we had in Alberta before the idiotic Carbon tax was introduced).

The same way we eliminated CFCs to save the Ozone layer. Remember all those CFC taxes? No, neither do I.

Troy Mann

@Arthur Gill

We need to do our part yet you bring no solutions other than do nothing. You refuse to believe any economic theory based on this. So cons tell us your plan? Crickets is all I will hear.

James Fitzgibbon

@Arthur Gill

Carbon pricing is a proven effective tool for reducing carbon emissions. And they will end up benefiting Canadians: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/john-ivison-game-changing-study-suggests-liberal-carbon-tax-plan-would-put-more-money-in-canadians-pockets

Please do, however, tell us all your brilliant alternative solution for reducing out emissions. Indeed, tell us ANY alternative solution proposed by the Tories...

waiting...

still waiting....

Byron Whitford

@James Fitzgibbon

We should do it the same way we eliminated acid rain and CFCs. A regulated phase out with an industrial cap and trade mechanism.

Carbon taxes are being pushed as the solution with the least impact to the economy but I haven't heard a single person say it is the best solution to eliminate GHGs.

If Climate change is the catastrophic issue everyone is selling it as shouldn't we be pushing the best solution to solve it rather than the most economical? This is why people don't support a carbon tax, the rhetoric doesn't match the climate change rhetoric.

Its like a salesman coming to your door and telling you he can solve your problems but you have to pay him, meanwhile the guy down the road with the house 100x the size of yours isn't being asked to pay anything..

Kelly Nelson

@James Fitzgibbon Says opinion right in your link. Opinion does not automatically equate fact or reality.

Byron Whitford

@James Fitzgibbon

The study is wrong for the simple fact that there isn't a hope in gods green earth that the Liberals would introduce a carbon tax in this manner.

Arthur Gill

@James Fitzgibbon
I just love it when people refer to "opinion " articles rather than facts.
The article referenced the redistribution of tax dollars under Trudeau's "plan". Not how it would impact emissions or economic activity.

David Amos

@Byron Whitford I agree

David Amos

@Arthur Gill Welcome to the Circus

David Amos

@James Fitzgibbon "still waiting...."

You will wait a long time in light of the fact that CBC is blocking the replies to you

  
john sparton

Nobody wants a carbon tax.

Something those doughnut holes in Ottawa should pay attention to.

David Amos

@john sparton The etctorate will explain it to them next year

 
Bob Ols

Isn't that the same Dominic Leblanc that was recently convicted of ethics violations?

John Myro

@Bob Ols

Yes it is but Trudeau said it was fine

Jonathan Murphy

@Bob Ols

Why yes, yes it is.

Bob Ols

@John Myro

Oh right, I forgot. Silly me. Must have been when he was on the Caribbean island trip.

David Amos

@John Myro They wish to be excused from ethics violations because lawyers and politicians do not understand what the term means

 
Jace Braidwith

And Manitoba doesn't really care what Ottawa says or thinks. Along with a growing number of provinces. So, what are you going to do about it? Nothing.

David Amos

@Jace Braidwith There is nothing Trudeau can do about it.

Content disabled.

David Amos

@James Fitzgibbon "extremist right blubbering"

What should folks call what you are doing?

David Amos

@David Amos Well that solved a minor mystery

Emery Hyslop-Margison

It's increasingly obvious that Justin Trudeau is not up to the job of Prime Minister. Three provincial Liberal governments have been defeated, Canadians are outraged on numerous fronts (including but not limited to immigration, Trans Mountain Pipeline, Corrections Canada, carbon tax, NAFTA and international relations - remember that India trip). More generally, his dogmatic adherence to certain positions (e.g. illegal immigration) in spite of tremendous opposition shows a troubling lack of willingness to compromise. As Aristotle said, "Politics is the art of compromise." Unless the People's Party siphons a significant number of votes from the Tories I see no scenario where Trudeau wins another mandate. I think he's toast.

Troy Mann

@Emery Hyslop-Margison

Growing economy
Low unemployment rate
Debt to GDP going down
3 international trade deals negotiated
Respected world wide

Ya if you hate those things the you would agree Trudeau isn't up to the job.

Emery Hyslop-Margison

@Troy Mann With all due respect to you I don't think Trudeau has much international respect. He's slowly butchering the economy (check out the TSX trends); In all three trade agreements TPP, EU and USMCA he traded a the cow (pun intended) for a handful of magic beans. Anyway, citizens of Canada will have the final word next fall.

Byron Whitford

@Troy Mann

Our economy is growing at an anemic pace and has been for a decade. This is the new normal. The recent 2017 bump is due to economic RECOVERY in Alberta. This is not sustained growth and ours is slated to drop below 2% in 2019.

Unemployment is a crap statistic (Which is why politicians like it). Labour participation rate is down by a full %

Debt to GDP has remained level at 31%

He only negotiate one trade deal. The other two were negotiated by the previous government. Trudeau just signed them.

Respected worldwide? Except in the USA, Japan, China, India, Australia and pretty much anywhere else he goes.

David Amos

@Emery Hyslop-Margison Methinks many folks would agree that "the People's Party will siphon a significant number of votes from the Tories" (Not Tories anymore) that Trudeau The Younger may win a minority mandate from the next kick at the can of worms N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Troy Mann "you would agree Trudeau isn't up to the job"

I agree but you failed in the attempt to trick us into agreeing with the rest of your bragging about your leader.

Methinks I sense a desperate liberal concerned about his own job security N'esy Pas?

 
Arthur Gill

Saskatchewan was the initial lone hold out and good on them.
As the dominoes fall so will Trudeau and it is long overdue.

Roger Jerome

@Arthur Gill ....Saskatchewan people can spot bs a mile away

Content disabled.

David Amos

@Roger Jerome Can they still smell it after CBC deletes it

Content disabled.

David Amos

@Mohammed Jones YUP Methinks that left quite a carbon footprint N'esy Pas?

David Amos

@Roger Jerome "Saskatchewan people can spot bs a mile away"

Methinks many Maritimers can spot such things much further away than that particularly if they live in Dominic Leblanc's riding N'esy Pas?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/federal-help-parlee-beach-1.3991177

Ottawa slams Manitoba's 'flip flop' on carbon tax after Pallister pulls out of climate plan

Liberal government committed to its plan to tackle the 'real threat of climate change'

John Paul Tasker · CBC News · Posted: Oct 04, 2018 3:43 PM ET

Federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he's disappointed Manitoba is pulling out of the national climate plan. (Matt Smith/Canadian Press)


Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said today the federal government is disappointed that Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister has pulled his province out of the national climate plan, calling it a "flip flop" on the carbon tax.

"We regret very much that the government of Manitoba has decided to pull out of the plan that they had previously submitted, which put a price on pollution. They obviously think that pollution should be free, but we don't agree with this flip flop from the government of Manitoba," LeBlanc said in question period Thursday, adding that Ottawa is committed to a "real climate plan" to deal with the "real threat of climate change."

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said she was "perplexed" by Manitoba's about-face.
"They had submitted a plan where they recognized there is a cost to pollution but, unfortunately, now they're with the federal Conservatives and conservative parties across the country who think that polluting should be free," she said.

"There is a cost to pollution. We're seeing the cost in extreme weather events across the country."
The comments came a day after Pallister announced he was abandoning his "made in Manitoba" plan to tax carbon dioxide emissions at a price of $25/tonne. Instead, Pallister said he will focus his energies — and his province's financial resources — on further developing clean hydroelectric power, phasing out coal and recycling "more and better."

Watch Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister explain his about-face on a carbon tax

Power and Politics

Manitoba premier tells P&P why he's backing out of carbon tax

00:00 09:47

'We're just asking for respect here in Manitoba," says Brian Pallister of his province's green record. 9:47

If LeBlanc and the Liberals were disappointed Thursday, the Conservative benches were celebrating the news that another province has given notice it will withdraw.

"I bring great news from my home province," Manitoba MP Candice Bergen said in the House of Commons. "Manitobans will not be subjected to the carbon tax ... after the prime minister's arrogance and Ottawa-knows-best attitude. A carbon tax doesn't work and costs Canadian families."

• 'We say no': Manitoba defies Ottawa by killing its carbon tax plan

• Trudeau defends 'price on pollution' in anti-carbon-tax heartland

• Analysis
  LNG Canada finally gives Trudeau the energy sector win he badly needed

While he initially resisted federal demands to impose a tax or pursue a cap-and-trade plan, Pallister chose to implement a carbon tax after receiving a legal opinion that suggested Ottawa was well within its constitutional rights to impose a tax on provinces.

'Ill-advised, destructive policy'

Pallister and former Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall were the lone holdouts when the pan-Canadian framework on climate was first negotiated.

Now, Pallister and Wall's replacement, Premier Scott Moe, have been joined by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley in opposing the national climate plan.

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister says he is pulling his plan to levy a carbon tax and is joining a number of provinces opposed to the federal government's climate plan demands. (John Woods/Canadian Press)

Notley pulled Alberta from the framework after the Federal Court of Appeal quashed approvals for the Trans Mountain expansion project. Ford has been steadfastly opposed to a carbon tax since launching his bid for the party's leadership.

Speaking to reporters after a joint meeting in Saskatchewan Thursday, Ford and Moe welcomed Manitoba to the fight, saying they are united in their opposition to Ottawa's plan to impose a tax on provinces that refuse to enact a carbon plan of their own — the so-called "backstop."

"It's clear opposition of this ill-advised, destructive policy is growing across the nation," Moe said.
Trudeau has said the federal government will levy a price on carbon dioxide pollution starting at a minimum of $10 a tonne in 2019, rising by $10 each year to $50 a tonne by 2022.

Trudeau has long insisted the plan will be revenue-neutral for the federal government — that any revenue raised by the measure will stay in the province or territory where it was generated. Those reassurances don't seem to be working on Ford.

"Justin Trudeau should stop holding the people of this country hostage, businesses hostage, families hostage. It's a job-killing carbon tax," Ford said. "We're trying to compete and we have one hand tied behind our backs ... we want a fair deal.

Premier of Ontario Doug Ford, left, shakes hands with Premier of Saskatchewan Scott Moe during a media event in Saskatoon, Thursday, October 4, 2018. Ford and Moe are opposed to the national climate plan. (Liam Richards/Canadian Press)

"They believe in one thing up in Ottawa — tax, tax, tax, spend, spend, spend."
Moe said he is confident a Saskatchewan-led legal challenge against the federal government's plan will succeed, even if other experts — including the ones who advised Manitoba — have said Ottawa can levy such a tax in the face of provincial opposition.

Canada signed on to ambitious emissions reduction targets at the Paris climate accord meeting in 2015, and a national pricing strategy is seen by Ottawa as the best way to accomplish their goal. However, the government has conceded a carbon price alone won't be enough to meet those targets.

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna fields questions at a news conference as the G7 environment, oceans and energy ministers meet in Halifax. McKenna said she was 'perplexed' by Manitoba's decision to 'flip flop' on a carbon tax. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

(The Liberal government maintained the same targets set by the former Conservative government: 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020, and 30 per cent below by 2030.)

Political uncertainty in New Brunswick could spell further trouble for the Liberal plan, as Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs — who has one more seat in the legislature than current Premier Brian Gallant — opposes Trudeau's "price on pollution."

Pallister's $25/tonne price would have met the federal government standard, but not indefinitely.
He cited Ottawa's insistence on getting to a $50/tonne price by 2022 as a reason for jumping ship. He said his tax was "flat and low, like the Prairie horizon, not escalating with every passing year like the federal government is proposing."

"Frankly, after a year of trying to get respect for our green record and green strategies, we were given no choice but to stand up against the federal government's intrusion," Pallister said in an interview Thursday with CBC News Network's Power & Politics.

"We have a choice. Either we're going to stand up for Manitobans in a year when the feds come in, as they've threatened to do, with a higher carbon tax, or you do it now. We're doing it now."

Beyond the price on carbon, the national climate plan includes other measures to battle climate change, including new building codes to boost energy efficiency, more charging stations for electric cars, expanding clean electricity sources and upgrading power grids.

The Power Panel debates Manitoba's climate plan

Power and Politics

Manitoba joins anti-carbon tax fight | Power Panel

 James, Jen, Andrew and Rob discuss Manitoba's flip-flop on the carbon tax. 11:40

About the Author

 

John Paul Tasker

Parliamentary Bureau

John Paul (J.P.) Tasker is a reporter in the CBC's Parliamentary bureau in Ottawa. He can be reached at john.tasker@cbc.ca.