Canadian Prime Minister to set carbon price

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to introduce a new national carbon price to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve climate targets.

The Prime Minister had failed at the beginning of the year to set the national carbon price, and he had instead promised to report back after having looked at a reduction plan including “carbon pricing mechanisms”.

Carbon pricing, which covers a tax or cap-and-trade system, is not supported by all provinces across the country, with Saskatchewan threatening to take legal action saying the measure would be an economic barrier.

A suggestion was made by Trudeau and the Environment Minister Catherine McKenna that the federal government could set the price if the provinces cannot agree on one.

Trudeau said: “We’re going to be making sure that there is a strong price on carbon right across the country, and we’re hoping the provinces are going to be able to do that in a way for themselves.”

Yesterday, in Whitehorse, Yukon, the official meeting of Canada’s premiers started on the discussions of, notably, reducing trade barriers, climate-change measures and health-care transfers.

Trudeau said: “We are going to reduce our emissions. We’re going to do it in a responsible way, but we’re very happy to work with the provinces to figure out the way that works best for them.”

Last week, the Environment Minister declared that there would be a carbon price by the autumn.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said: “If it’s something else, that’s a problem, because this is fundamentally the wrong time for the country -- and especially for western Canada -- to be looking at another tax on everything... And we would have to examine all of our options if they were to come in some unilateral way with a price, or a carbon tax.”