Poilievre says he would repeal federal carbon pricing for industrial emissions

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says a government led by him would repeal both the federal consumer carbon tax and standards for pricing greenhouse gas emissions from large industrial emitters.

"There will be no taxes on Canadian consumers, no taxes on Canadian industries," Poilievre said on Monday at a news conference in L'Orignal, Ont.

At the same time, Poilievre said "provinces will continue to have the freedom to address" industrial emissions "how they like."

Poilievre said a Conservative government would also expand eligibility for existing federal tax credits targeted at clean technology and manufacturing and "reward heavy industries who make products with lower emissions than the world average."

He said his government's approach would be "carrot, not stick."

WATCH | Poilievre asked if he would impose his own emissions target: 

Poilievre says 'bring home clean production' to cut fossil fuel emissions

1 day ago

Duration 1:23

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is asked if he is prepared to commit Canada to any kind of emissions targets if he were to become prime minister.

According to an analysis published last year by the Canadian Climate Institute, pricing of industrial emissions is expected to be the biggest driver for reducing emissions in Canada between now and 2030, accounting for somewhere between 20 and 48 per cent of all reductions. 

Canada is committed to bringing down emissions by at least 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. Asked on Friday whether he would commit to an emissions target, Poilievre said he would focus on helping other countries reduce their emissions. 

Most provinces have their own systems

The federal carbon-pricing regime introduced by Justin Trudeau's former government had two components: a consumer levy on fuel (commonly known as the carbon tax) and an emissions-trading system for large industrial emitters.

On Friday, in one of the new cabinet's first acts, Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government took steps to eliminate the consumer carbon tax. At the same time, Carney has said that he would seek to "improve and tighten" the industrial pricing system. 

Poilievre has long opposed the consumer carbon tax, but until Monday he had avoided saying what he would do about the industrial price.

While federal legislation sets out national standards for pricing industrial emissions, provinces can use their own systems if they meet federal benchmarks and the vast majority of provinces have done so. Only Manitoba and Prince Edward Island, along with Nunavut and the Yukon, are using the federal system.

Alberta has had an industrial carbon-pricing system since 2007 and Premier Danielle Smith, a vocal critic of the federal consumer carbon tax, says she supports putting a price on industrial emissions.

"We're going to continue with an industrial carbon-pricing strategy because it is working," she said last May. 

The federal benchmark currently calls for the price on industrial emissions to rise by $15 per tonne of emissions each year, reaching $170 per tonne in 2030. If the federal benchmark were to be repealed, provinces would likely have to decide for themselves whether to maintain their existing systems, and at what price.

In a statement on Monday, Smith and Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said they "fully support Pierre Poilievre's commitment to return jurisdictional authority back to the provinces to regulate their own industrial emissions."

Carbon markets backed by steel, cement industries

Rick Smith, president of the Canadian Climate Institute, said eliminating the price on industrial emissions "would ultimately hurt more than it would help," arguing that it would create "uncertainty" for businesses and "undermine Canadian exports."

He said that's because "priority trading partners" like the U.K. and EU are introducing tariffs that give an edge to "low-carbon producers." 

In a statement released by the institute, Smith said tax credits and investments in clean technology "will not be enough to meaningfully drive down carbon pollution from big industry or deliver on Canada's climate goals."

In an open letter to provincial environment ministers last fall, several industry groups and a number of environmental organizations proposed a series of changes to Canada's industrial carbon-pricing systems, but expressed support for the policy.

"We support industrial carbon pricing as the backbone of decarbonization across this country," they wrote. "Industrial carbon markets are the most flexible and cost-effective way to incentivize industry to systematically reduce emissions."

Signatories included the Cement Association of Canada, the Canadian Steel Producers Association and Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.

In an interview with CBC News, Dennis Darby, president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, said his members support incentives to decarbonize. But he said the details of Poilievre's proposals would matter, and businesses like policy certainty. 

Poilievre argued on Monday that his mix of policies would be a boon for Canadian industry and said Carney's plan, in combination with American tariffs, will lead to companies and investment moving to the United States.

But Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson criticized Poilievre's plan as bad from both an economic and environmental perspective.

"The world is moving to decarbonize, irrespective of President [Donald] Trump being in the White House and so it is important to create incentives to decarbonize if we want to be competitive going forward. And when we're thinking right now about the challenges we have with the United States and we're looking at diversification of trade, well, the European Union is in the process of putting in place border carbon adjustments, which means that decarbonization is really important if we want to trade with Europe."

Laurel Collins, the NDP's climate change and environment critic, said Poilievre's proposal would amount to "giant oil and gas corporations pay[ing] less tax."