Alberta's new UCP government has delivered on its biggest campaign promise and introduced legislation to cancel the provincial carbon tax.
On Wednesday, Premier Jason Kenney introduced Bill 1, the first piece of legislation introduced by the UCP, which would roll back the provincial carbon tax on May 30.
Morinville-St. Albert UCP MLA Dale Nally said he knocked on 10,000 doors during the election campaign.
“It was a consistent theme on the doorstep, that Albertans want us to kill the job-killing carbon tax,” Nally said.
The MLA said introducing the tax repeal as the government's first bill means the party will keep its promises to the public.
“It signals that we're going to mean what we say and say what we mean, and then we're going to get things done,” Nally said.
The UCP says removing the carbon tax will create 6,000 jobs and save Albertans $1.4 billion a year in taxes, but St. Albert NDP Marie Renaud isn’t convinced repealing the tax is a good move and said the province will lose many green jobs as a result of this bill.
The UCP introduced the bill on Wednesday but made no mention of what would happen to external programs funded by the carbon tax, like Energy Efficiency Alberta, or what would happen to projects that are funded by the tax.
The UCP did not provide a minister to answer questions.
Nally said Albertans will need to wait until the budget comes forward in the fall to find out the fate of these programs.
Renaud said without the $1.4 billion collected from the carbon tax, there are sure to be cuts to programs come budget time.
“We're going to have to wait and see what they cut in the budget, because you cannot give a massive tax break to corporations ... you can't do that without cutting. And so what is going to fall (under) the axe?"
The St. Albert MLA also said she is concerned about the environment without the carbon tax.
Nally noted the UCP government would introduce their own version of a tax on heavy emitters and will use the money to fund green technologies.
But it's possible Albertans will not be without a carbon tax for long. The federal government has said a replacement federal carbon tax is on the way, as it has done to other provinces that haven’t complied, including Saskatchewan, Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in Edmonton earlier this month and said that nowhere across the country will it be free to pollute.
“We’d much rather work with the provinces on that, but if some provinces don’t want to act to fight climate change, the federal government will, because it’s too important for Canadians,” Trudeau said to reporters on May 10.
Nally said if the feds do step in, the cost will be much lower to Albertans.“I've seen that the federal carbon tax is significantly lower than the carbon tax that has been thrust on us by the NDP. So it's still a savings for Albertans and still leaves more money in the pockets,” Nally said.
Regardless, Nally said his government plans to fight the federal tax as well.
“Our commitment is and always has been is that if the federal government chooses to go that path, then we're going to fight them in court,” Nally said.
Both Saskatchewan and Ontario have taken the federal government to court over the carbon tax, with Saskatchewan losing and Ontario still waiting for a decision.
