Feds to Impose National Minimum Carbon Price
Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna confirmed that the government will impose a national minimum carbon price on those provinces that fail to adopt their own pricing system either through cap and trade or carbon taxes. Provinces with their own carbon pricing system already in place will be required to meet the federal carbon price. Details of the plan will be released this fall in advance of a first ministers' meeting.
The Globe and Mail reports that the federal government is looking at imposing the carbon levy by way of additional taxes on fuels in provinces that either lack a plan or fail to meet the federal minimum. British Columbia and Alberta have already moved to adopt a carbon tax, while Ontario and Quebec have elected to proceed with cap and trade programs. Minister McKenna acknowledged that it will be necessary to develop an equivalency between cap and trade and carbon tax given that the two systems operate very differently. Minister McKenna did not indicate what the national carbon price will be set at.