One day after signalling a compromise on a carbon tax, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister pitched the idea to agriculture producers who have largely opposed a tax on carbon and who have faced big bills from the federal levy.
Pallister told an agricultural exposition Tuesday that he plans to introduce a provincial carbon tax which, unlike the federal one, would not apply to grain-drying costs.
“Just that alone is a significant indication of the cost benefits of having a Manitoba plan,” Pallister told a few hundred people at Manitoba Ag Days.
“We are going to implement our made-in-Manitoba green plan because it is better for the economy than Ottawa’s, it is better for the environment than Ottawa’s and, most importantly it is better for us, our children and grandchildren than Ottawa’s.”
The announcement follows Pallister’s decision Monday to open a door to negotiate with the federal government toward a provincial carbon tax.
Manitoba originally proposed a flat $25 per tonne levy, but withdrew the plan when Ottawa said it was not good enough. The federal government imposed its own tax, which is set to rise to $50 per tonne by 2022.
Pallister’s stance breaks with his fellow Prairie conservative premiers. Alberta’s Jason Kenney and Scott Moe of Saskatchewan are vocal opponents of the federal tax and have refused demands to implement their own carbon pricing system. All three provinces are challenging the federal levy in court.
The federal carbon tax has also been widely opposed in Manitoba’s farming areas — a big base for Pallister’s Progressive Conservatives.
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