Guilbeault admits carbon tax could be ‘replaced’

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OTTAWA – He fought tooth and nail for the tax, promising there would be “no exemptions to carbon pricing in this country.” Now, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault admits the consumer carbon tax “has become very unpopular” and that maybe, just maybe, the government could replace it with something else.

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“Our plan to fight climate change is much broader than just one measure. There’s about 100 different measures that we have deployed to fight climate change in Canada and the consumer carbon-pricing element is an important element, but it’s not the only one,” Guilbeault said Monday.

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“I am not telling you that this is not an important measure, it will have to be replaced with something else.”

“The industrial pricing component of carbon pricing in Canada gives us three times more emission reduction than the consumer pricing,” he said.

Ten provinces and territories are subject to the federal carbon tax regime, and Guilbeault is the Trudeau government’s chief proponent of the measure.

Guilbeault made the comments as he arrived at the cabinet retreat in Montebello, Que., amid a Liberal leadership race in which three of the best-known candidates have said they would revisit the consumer carbon tax.

Former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney and government House leader Karina Gould, all running for leader, have all said recently they are open to scrapping the consumer carbon tax.

The minister said he was talking to “all the candidates” and asking what they would put in place to replace the consumer component of the tax.

When asked if he personally believed replacing the carbon tax for consumers was necessary, the minister did not offer a clear answer, and instead attacked Conservative party Leader Pierre Poilievre.

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“I see that it has become very unpopular with the population, essentially because of Pierre Poilievre’s lies,” he said.

For two years, the Conservatives have promised to scrap the carbon tax and have pledged to make the next election a “carbon tax election.” Poilievre argues that the carbon tax has driven up inflation and the cost of living in Canada.

In September, with the carbon tax having reached $80 per tonne of emissions, four times its original rate in 2019, Poilievre said the tax increase would cause a “nuclear winter” for the economy.

“There would be mass hunger and malnutrition with a tax this high … our seniors would have to turn the heat down to 14 or 13 C just to make it through the winter,” Poilievre said at the time.

The federal government redistributes revenue from the carbon tax and says most Canadians get more than enough back in the form of the Canada Carbon Rebate.

When asked by a reporter if he didn’t feel responsible for the policy’s unpopularity by failing to sell it properly, Guilbeault brushed off the possibility.

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“I think it’s much more on the person who lied about this for more than two years, who misguided and manipulated Canadians,” he said.

In a statement, Conservative Party Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman blasted Guilbeault, calling him a “radical Liberal Minister of Carbon Taxes” who is trying to save his political career. 

“After punishing Canadians for years by increasing the cost of everything from gas to groceries, the Liberals are trying to trick Canadians into believing they will so something different just to save their political careers,” she said. 

Guilbeault confirmed that he will run in the next federal election for the Liberals, regardless of what happens to the tax.

“So what I want is for Canada to continue to move forward in the fight against climate change,” he said.

National Post
atrepanier@postmedia.com

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