From: Chrystia Freeland <Chrystia.Freeland@fin.gc.ca>
Date: Mon, Jun 17, 2024 at 11:59 AM
Subject: Automatic reply: Hey Higgy interesting news today EH?
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
The
Department of Finance acknowledges receipt of your electronic
correspondence. Please be assured that we appreciate receiving your
comments.
Le ministère des Finances Canada accuse réception de votre courriel. Nous vous assurons que vos commentaires sont les bienvenus.
From: Corey Robichaud <corey.robichaud@conservationcouncil.ca>
Date: Mon, Jun 17, 2024 at 11:58 AM
Subject: Thank you for reaching out to the Conservation Council of New Brunswickck Re: Hey Higgy interesting news today EH?
To: <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Please note that Corey Robichaud is away from the office until July
2nd. During this period, Corey will not be available to respond to
emails.
In the meantime, please feel free to contact Kyle Reid at
kyle.reid@conservationcouncil.
--
Corey Robichaud
Director of Communications
Conservation Council of New Brunswick
180 St. John Street
Fredericton, NB E3B 4A9
corey.robichaud@conservationco
www.conservationcouncil.ca
506 458 8747
From: Gilles Volpé <Gilles.Volpe@libertyutilities.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 17, 2024 at 11:59 AM
Subject: Automatic reply: Hey Higgy interesting news today EH?
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Hi:
Thx for your message. I am currently out of the office on vacation,
returning on Monday June 24. If anything is urgent please contact patrick.wall@libertyutilities.
Thx,
Gilles
Bonjour: Je suis en vacances j'usqu'au
lundi 24 juin. Si il y a quelque chose d'urgent veuillez contacter patrick.wall@libertyutilities.
Merci,
Gilles
Date: Mon, Jun 17, 2024 at 11:59 AM
Subject: Automatic reply: Hey Higgy interesting news today EH?
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
I am out of the office and do not have access to email. If your matter requires immediate attention, please contact me directly at 506-444-1328.
From: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 17, 2024 at 11:58 AM
Subject: Hey Higgy interesting news today EH?
To: blaine.higgs <blaine.higgs@gnb.ca>, <Steve.Outhouse@gnb.ca>, <Gilles.volpe@libertyutilities.com>, <corey.robichaud@conservationcouncil.ca>, robert.mckee <robert.mckee@gnb.ca>, Mitton, Megan (LEG) <megan.mitton@gnb.ca>, Arseneau, Kevin (LEG) <kevin.a.arseneau@gnb.ca>, John Furey <JohnFurey@fureylegal.com>, Young, Dave <Dave.Young@nbeub.ca>, len.hoyt <len.hoyt@mcinnescooper.com>, Mike.Comeau <Mike.Comeau@gnb.ca>, fin.minfinance-financemin.fin <fin.minfinance-financemin.fin@canada.ca>, pm <pm@pm.gc.ca>
Cc: Robert. Jones <Robert.Jones@cbc.ca>, robert.gauvin <robert.gauvin@gnb.ca>
Official N.B. government site on carbon taxes slammed for exaggerations, omissions
Province overestimates carbon tax amounts, ignores rebates, in material used to inform the public
An official New Brunswick government web page set up to inform the general public about federal carbon taxes exaggerates costs that average consumers are likely to experience this year.
It also makes no direct mention of carbon rebates that will help offset those costs, even though that is a central feature of Canada's two-part carbon tax and rebate program.
Moe Qureshi, director of climate research with the New Brunswick Conservation Council, says any member of the public trying to become informed about how carbon taxes work would end up misinformed — if they relied solely on the official information being provided by the province.
"It's only telling half a story and half a story that's a bit exaggerated," said Qureshi in an interview.
"Even if the province disagrees with the carbon tax, I do think it's their responsibility to present the information as accurately and as transparently as possible."
Moe
Qureshi shown here at a New Brunswick Legislature climate hearing last
year. Qureshi said opposing carbon taxes is not an excuse for the New
Brunswick government to misrepresent how they work or what they cost. (New Brunswick Legislature Livestream)
The New Brunswick government under Premier Blaine Higgs has been a staunch opponent of the Canadian government's carbon pricing policy for several years.
The federal scheme involves taxing fossil fuel consumption to discourage its use and then rebating amounts collected back to consumers and businesses to offset the costs of paying the tax.
To promote its view of that federal program to the public, the province maintains a web page about the policy to explain what it says is "the federal carbon tax impact" on New Brunswick consumers.
However, there are questions about both the accuracy and completeness of the information the province has been communicating to the public.
Liberty Utilities is the natural gas distribution company in New Brunswick.
According to the company, a claim on the province's web page that the average residential gas user will pay $403.36 in carbon charges and sales taxes on those charges this year is 30 per cent too high.
Liberty is currently in front of the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board for a review of its rates and charges.
In
February 2023, Premier Blaine Higgs announced New Brunswick was
reluctantly joining the federal carbon tax system so residents could
access relief offered by the national program in the form of rebates.
Nevertheless, current government messaging avoids any mention that that
those rebates exist. (Ed Hunter/CBC)
Evidence it has submitted for that hearing shows the company's average residential customer is expected to consume 66 gigajoules of natural gas this year, well below the 86 gigajoules used by the province in its carbon tax calculations for natural gas usage on its web page.
"Liberty estimates that the price of carbon charges for a residential customer using natural gas in 2024/25 will be $271 ($311.65 including HST)," said Liberty's Nadine Chiasson in a statement sent to CBC News about what its own numbers show.
The New Brunswick government said in an email statement the province did not consult actual New Brunswick natural gas consumption data in arriving at its elevated estimate.
Instead, it used a federal government estimate of how much energy the average New Brunswick household consumes per year, which in 2021 was 86 gigajoules.
The province then calculated carbon taxes based on that number as if all of that household energy was supplied by natural gas, including energy used for things such as lighting and air conditioning, which could not be supplied by that fuel under any scenario.
"The 86 gigajoules are an estimate of the energy intensity of a household in New Brunswick, meaning that amount of energy would be consumed by a house each year in the province," the province's statement said about how its figures were calculated.
A
section of New Brunswick's carbon tax website claims New Brunswick
households that use natural gas will face $403.36 in carbon-related
charges this year. New Brunswick's natural gas distribution company,
Liberty Utilities, says that is an exaggerated estimate. (Government of New Brunswick)
The province's carbon tax web page also appears to exaggerate costs facing New Brunswick drivers.
According to estimates generated by Natural Resources Canada, passenger cars in New Brunswick in 2019, the last full year before the COVID-19 pandemic, consumed an annual average of 1,088 litres of gasoline, based on distances travelled and typical vehicle fuel economy.
But on its web page, New Brunswick instead uses 1,760 litres of gasoline to calculate annual costs of the carbon tax on a typical car.
That's 62 per cent more fuel than what Natural Resources Canada suggests is normal in the province for an average vehicle, and it raised the province's calculated cost of carbon taxes on a car 62 per cent — to $356.43.
The higher number was arrived at partly due to New Brunswick adopting an example of a car that drives nearly 30 per cent more kilometres in a year than federal data suggests is normal, while at the same time operating at 25 per cent poorer fuel economy than average.
Jennifer Winter is a professor in the department of economics and the School of Social Policy at the University of Calgary and the departmental science adviser at Environment and Climate Change Canada.
She gives New Brunswick credit for openly detailing how it estimates carbon costs for vehicles but has doubts the numbers are accurate for a typical driver
Jennifer
Winter is a leading Canadian expert on household carbon costs. She
believes New Brunswick is likely overstating what drivers will be
charged in carbon taxes this year. (Emilio Avalos/Radio-Canada)
"New Brunswick is transparent about its assumptions, which is good," said Winter in an email.
"But the assumptions are likely overstating costs based on available data on vehicle fuel economy and average distance travelled in a year."
Winter is a leading Canadian expert on how carbon costs affect households and says it is important to remember in any analysis of carbon taxes that "there is also a rebate and that offsets the costs."
This year carbon tax rebates in New Brunswick are set at $380 for single adults living in the Moncton and Saint John metropolitan areas and $456 for those living anywhere else in the province.
Couples are to be paid rebates of either $570 or $684, depending on where they live, and families of four will be sent rebates of either $760 or $912 on the same basis.
However that information is not directly included in New Brunswick's carbon tax presentation.
The web page does have a link to an external federal website, where information on carbon-tax rebates can be researched separately, but the word "rebate" does not itself appear anywhere on the New Brunswick site nor do rebate amounts.
There are no side-by-side comparisons offered to help the public understand the relationship between what they might pay in carbon taxes versus what they will get back in carbon tax rebates.
Qureshi said between exaggerated estimates of carbon costs and missing information on rebates, it is obvious to him the province's carbon tax information site is not meant to be a genuine effort to inform the public about the federal policy.
"Not including the rebate information is a big red flag because that is integral to part of the carbon pricing system," said Qureshi.
"The whole point of the carbon rebates is to remove the burden on Canadian families and to offset some of those costs. I think they need to be a bit more honest about the full system of how that works."
The province did not respond to questions about why it does not include information about carbon tax rebates on its carbon tax site.
A request to interview a government representative about the quality of information that it is providing to the public about carbon taxes was also not responded to.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
From: Melissa Curran <Melissa.Curran@nbeub.ca>
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2023 13:51:01 +0000
Subject: RE: Matter 552 - NB Power 2024-2025 General Rate Application
- Application for Variance
To: "Chiasson, Alain (OAG/CPG)" <Alain.Chiasson2@gnb.ca>, NBP
Regulatory <NBPRegulatory@nbpower.com>,
"louis-philippe.gauthier@cfib.
"frederic.gionet@cfib.ca" <frederic.gionet@cfib.ca>,
"David.Raymond.Amos333@gmail.
"Sollows, David (DNRED/MRNDE)" <David.Sollows@gnb.ca>, "Daly, Gerard"
<daly@nbnet.nb.ca>, "hanrahan.dion@jdirving.com"
<hanrahan.dion@jdirving.com>, "Brandy.Gellner@
<Brandy.Gellner@
"dave.lavigne@
<dave.lavigne@
"Gilles.volpe@
<Gilles.volpe@
<JohnFurey@fureylegal.com>, "Murray, Leanne" <LMurray@nbpower.com>,
"Petrie, Jamie" <JPetrie@nbpower.com>, "Murphy, Darren"
<DaMurphy@nbpower.com>, "Porter, George" <George.Porter@nbpower.com>,
"Gibson, Kevin" <KevGibson@nbpower.com>, "Gordon, Laura"
<LGordon@nbpower.com>, NBEUB/CESPNB <General@nbeub.ca>, "Young, Dave"
<Dave.Young@nbeub.ca>, "Aherrington@lawsoncreamer.com
<Aherrington@lawsoncreamer.com
<Michael.Dickie@nbeub.ca>, "Mitchell, Kathleen"
<Kathleen.Mitchell@nbeub.ca>, Veronique Otis
<Veronique.Otis@nbeub.ca>, Susan Colwell <Susan.Colwell@nbeub.ca>,
"tyler.rajeski@
<tyler.rajeski@
"darcy.ouellette@
<darcy.ouellette@
<len.hoyt@mcinnescooper.com>, "paul.black@twinriverspaper.
<paul.black@twinriverspaper.
<tammy.grieve@mcinnescooper.
<jeff.garrett@sjenergy.com>, "shelley.wood@sjenergy.com"
<shelley.wood@sjenergy.com>, "dan.dionne@perth-andover.com"
<dan.dionne@perth-andover.com>
<pierreroy@edmundston.ca>, "rburgoyne@coxandpalmer.com"
<rburgoyne@coxandpalmer.com>, "gzacher@stikeman.com"
<gzacher@stikeman.com>
Good morning,
The Hearing in relation to the above-noted Matter will resume at noon
today. For ease of access, below is the Zoom link to log in.
Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 865 2683 2735
Passcode: 765150
Melissa Curran
Deputy Chief Clerk / Greffière en chef adjointe
(506) 658-2504 (General/Général)
(506) 643-7334 (Direct/Directe)
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