If elected, Freeland would abandon the carbon tax for individuals

If she were to succeed Justin Trudeau at the head of Canada, former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland would abandon the carbon tax intended for individuals, a key environmental measure of the Liberal government.

The former federal finance minister, who has not yet officially announced her candidacy to run for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, is due to enter the race on Sunday.

A source close to Ms. Freeland told - that the latter would be ready to take difficult decisions and to abolish part of the carbon price, which Canadians do not unanimously agree with, according to her.

Ms. Freeland would, however, make sure to charge big polluters as part of its plan to combat climate change.

There are two types of carbon pollution pricing: industrial pricing, which targets large industrial emitters, and fuel pricing, which targets fossil fuel distributors.

It is this last measure that Ms. Freeland would like to abolish. It affects consumers more directly, because they pay more for their fuel as a result. As compensation, however, the federal government sometimes returns more than the equivalent of this fee to consumers, depending on different socio-economic and geographic criteria.

The source, who agreed to share this information with - on condition of anonymity, specifies that Ms. Freeland would consider replacing carbon pricing for consumers by a system that will operate within our federation and which will be developed in collaboration with the provinces and territories.

Ms. Freeland slammed the door of the federal government with a bang a month ago, citing disagreements with Prime Minister Trudeau and thereby precipitating her resignation.

Mark Carney reportedly considering changes

Mark Carney, the other potential candidate who is tipped to succeed Mr. Trudeau, could also make changes to the carbon tax if he is elected as the next prime minister, said a source close to the former governor of the Bank of Canada.

Mark Carney has been clear that carbon pricing for consumers needs to be changed and will be changed significantly.

Mr. Carney, who must announce his candidacy for the leadership of the PLC Thursday afternoon in Edmonton, was questioned about it during his interview with the American show The Daily Show, suggesting that Canada should continue to do your part […]but in a way that Canadians do not pay the price. He also recalled that the vast majority of Canadian emissions come from our industry.

In fact, almost 30% of Canadian emissions come from the production and transportation of oil to the United Statesspecified Mr. Carney in his interview.

Justin Trudeau ‘proud’ of the carbon tax

Reacting to this information, Prime Minister Trudeau defended the carbon tax, saying he was “proud” to have put forward such a measure which, according to him, made it possible to both fight climate change and grow the economy.

According to him, each candidate for the leadership of the PLC will have to propose its own climate plan. “Liberals and Canadians will have to make a choice,” he said at a press conference in Windson, Ontario.

For his part, the federal Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, who is also considering running for the leadership of the PLCwas of the same opinion, affirming that the abolition of this measure will actually make low-income people less well off in this country.

At a press conference from Washington, where he has been for several days, Mr. Wilkinson declared that he has questions to put not only to Chrystia Freeland, but to everyone who thinks about eliminating or modifying the carbon tax for individualson how they plan to achieve Canada’s climate goals.

When it was launched, the Liberal government said that carbon pricing would reduce the country’s emissions by up to a third by 2030.

This tax came into effect in 2019, at $20 per tonne. Since then, the pricing has been adjusted each year and should gradually increase to $170 per tonne of carbon over the next 5 years.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has made the abolition of the carbon tax a centerpiece of his political program. And he is not the only one: seven provincial premiers, those of the Atlantic, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario, also oppose federal carbon pricing.

British Columbia, Quebec and the Northwest Territories, which have their own programs, are not subject to it.

With information from Daniel Thibeault, Laurence Martin and CBC