Alberta’s new United Conservative government delivered its first throne speech last week and as expected, repealing the carbon tax, introduced by the NDP, is first on the agenda.
Bill 1: An Act to Repeal the Carbon Tax will eliminate the tax on consumers and facilities that produce less than 100,000 tonnes of carbon in a year, however, large emitters, like coal-fired power plants, will still pay via the Carbon Competitiveness Incentive Regulation. The CCIR will be replaced by a new system in 2020 that will see the tax fall from $30 per tonne to $20 per tonne. That money will be used to invest in emissions-reducing technologies.
“We like to call it the spring of renewal,” said Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock MLA Glenn van Dijken. “We feel that Albertans spoke loudly during the spring election and that they are asking us to move forward with the renewal that we promised in our platform so that’s essentially what the throne speech was geared towards.
“We’ve said all along that carbon taxation is not an effective climate policy and we believe there are better ways of addressing climate change as opposed to a climate taxation policy. I believe that emissions reduction and emissions-reducing technology has continued to evolve and improve and the best way to have a global climate policy is to help to export that technology around the world.”
The bill to repeal the provincial tax, which was tabled May 22, is expected to become law by May 30, but will immediately be replaced by a federal carbon tax, which the province plans to fight in court.
van Dijken acknowledged a recent Saskatchewan court decision that ruled the federal government had the constitutional authority to implement such a tax on a province, but the Alberta case is clearly different as the provincial government will be putting forward its plan to tax large emitters and invest in new technologies, he said.
“We will challenge the federal government’s interference in our provincial jurisdiction. We believe that moving forward with the policies that we’re putting forward that we have a responsible policy and we don’t believe the federal government has any jurisdiction in imposing any further climate policy on the province of Alberta,” said van Dijken.
“We believe we will be able to affect change globally in a very economically viable, efficient way. So for the federal government to judge that that’s not an effective climate policy, we believe they’re offside on that ... We need to be smart about climate policy as opposed to essentially just throwing a tax out there and thinking we’re going to affect anything globally.”
Also on the new government’s spring agenda is reducing red tape, said van Dijken. Premier Jason Kenney even introduced a new cabinet position in the minister of red tape reduction, whose job will be to reduce bureaucratic delays and regulations for projects to move forward at a faster pace than they do currently.
“We are focused on reducing red tape and regulations. We are focused on reducing taxation on our job creators. We believe some of the employment regulations that were put forward are hindering our ability to be competitive and helping to spur on the economy and create jobs,” said van Dijken, who added such policies will help ensure Alberta is competitive in Canada and around the world.
“We have at our doorstep, four industries, I would suggest that we’ve been blessed with -- the energy industry, agriculture, forestry and the tourism industry -- and some of the policies that have been brought forward have essentially reduced the opportunity for job creators to succeed and we believe that we’ll be able to be competitive, responsible and sustainable within Alberta and deliver products that can be globally competitive.”
Workplace legislation regarding farm and ranch workers is also on the way, said van Dijken, but likely won’t be introduced until the fall sitting of the Legislature.
“There’s a little more consultation work that needs to be done to ensure that we get that right.”
