Premiers ask to testify on carbon tax at federal committee | Power Play with Vassy Kapelos

Premier higs good to see you thank you so much for making the time you’re very welcome as Premier you wrote directly to the chair of the committee have you received a response to uh to the effect of what the the federal Tories are saying that they will not allow you and your

Counterparts uh to testify um no I haven’t seen a response to that but I do have confirmation that I am going to uh participate on the standing committee on government operations uh and estimates so um and that’s tomorrow at 6 okay so that’s the other other committee

The one that the the conservatives chair why did you want to testify before a a federal committee on Parliament Hill what do you believe in your view uh it will accomplish outside of the opposition you have already voice to the federal government well I think that it

Is clear I’ve been I have been steadfast I guess in my opposition to the carbon tax but I think it’s ramping up here now Across the Nation we’re seeing other parties get involved we’re seeing you know certainly Premier from this on the on the opposite side of the house that

Are saying um you know we we don’t want to um impose this on on citizens now and and um and so we’ve seen it here with with our opposition leaders here in NE Brunswick so NE brunic is a rural Province um people have to drive we don’t have buses we don’t have subways

And and it it’s becoming a real burden so we can keep pretending that it’s not impacting affordability in our country but it’s certainly is and it’s having a bigger impact in rural provinces so it’s important that we continue to voice our concerns and yes ultimately I’d like to see that

The carbon tax gone because I don’t think it’s the answer to us improving our overall emissions and reducing them so let me unpack Premier uh two aspects of that answer uh first on the degree to which it’s impacting affordability there was a letter out today from a number of economists who

Said from across the country who said that by their calculations it’s responsible but they alluded to the banks Bank of Canada’s calculations it’s responsible for about 12th of inflation is it fair or accurate for you and your your counterparts to characterize this as the main culprit in the affordability

Struggles Canadians are facing and New Brunswick more new brunswickers pardon me more specifically well every time you fill up a vehicle and and you’re paying another 17 cents in in April and you know it’s headed for double that in fact our whole our whole costs on either

Carbon tax on the fuel or carbon tax on clean on Industries will be would be quadrupled over the over the on the life of the plan that’s put in place by the federal government so to say that um you know currently another 20 cents a liter

Or $10 a fill up on a 50 liter tank um and then you put that into Transportation with trucks that are they’re fueling a lot more um four times that and that doesn’t have an impacts on groceries that doesn’t have an impact on on the Commodities everything we buy at

No matter what store um you know I think we’ve we’ve recognized something very recently too that that this isn’t the the big issue the big issue would be industry and then the other big issue of as is is we can have an impact worldwide and yet we’re working in this little

Bubble in Canada thinking that we’re going to save the world on emissions when we actually could be making a huge impact if we just open up our bubble and look look at what we can do abroad I’m gonna ask you about that in a second especially as it pertains to LG

Uh but I just again want to want to unpack the comments you’re making because in in referencing the degree to which you believe the carbon tax affects affordability you did not reference the rebate that is in place it’s worth $190 for a family of four four times a year

In New Brunswick plus add to that that they’ve now doubled the rural part of the rebate and I do take your point about people who live in rural parts of your Province and the lack of readily available Alternatives the fact that they do have to drive a lot more but

Does that doubling of the rebate not acknowledge that and and in essence aim to make them whole what it doesn’t acknowledge is the you don’t see a rebate on groceries or rebate in the on a retail store or clothing or or any other commodity that people are buying at higher prices

Because of the transportation it took to get them there so so just saying that you get a rebate on what you spend on fuel uh only covers a very small portion of what the total expense would be on other Commodities that you purchase every day so and and we know that that’s

Not the full picture in terms of the rebate um but I think more importantly is that that we can we can have a bigger impact and I think you say you want to go and talk about that a bit because I think that’s the opportunity we have in

Canada let’s think bigger let’s think about what we can do with our energy here in Canada to not only make life affordable for Canadians but have a greater impact where what but I I think you can do can you not do both things at once can you think

About how to basically help other countries who contribute more to Global emissions displace their more resource uh heavy you know heavy emitter resource Reliance and at the same time reduce your own emissions so that you have credibility when asking others to do the same and to that point I mean the

Canadian climate Institute just analyzed last week that the consumer carbon tax is worth about 8 to n% of the projected reduction in emissions by 2030 so I know that you and your colleagues say that it’s not doing anything it’s not doing what the feds say it will do but this

Institute said it will by 2030 but but actually I think the point is 8 to 9% on 1.5% of world emissions so it’s such a small component for such a large pain that was causing across our country that’s the point when we have the affordability here in Canada to have

To have energy supplies that not only can Finance greater emission reductions through technology and advancements and and and also replacing coal in other countries we have the ability here in Canada to do a whole lot more and I would use the money we have in resources

To not only as I said shut down coal plants but also to to spend on technology development so it makes it more affordable for people to use um energy efficient vehicles or reduce emissions in in in other ways so that’s my point is that we are impacting people

Individually they’re not doing that in the US um they’re not doing that in other countries we’re probably as I understand the only country that’s not using its natural resources to the fullness especially in this time of transition I know your time is limited Premier so I do just really quickly want

To ask you about LG because I interviewed the prime minister of GRE over the weekend who made it quite clear if uh he could get Canadian LNG at a a quote unquote competitive price to displace any leftover Reliance on Russian gas he would gladly he would absolutely I believe was the word he

Used take it uh there’s a lot of conversation about what if something were built in New Brunswick in order to be able to export that LNG are you involved in any of those active conversations at the moment and and what do you say in response to uh you know

Proponents of those projects who have withdrawn because they say the economic case is no longer there actuallyy the reason the economics did not work was because the pipeline cost of transportation to bring gas from out west or from the US the um the the fact is we have 77 trillion standard CU Fe

Cubic feet of gas right here in New Brunswick we we have the gas supply to feed a plant that’s already here in New Brunswick that could be converted to LNG export so we have the opportunity New Brunswick to be a major player in worldwide um emission reductions and and

So the only economics that that didn’t work were were the facts that the supply needs to be closer it is closer and we need that we need the support here from First Nations uh from developers to look at our resource and for the for the people in The Province to realize this

Brings billions in economic value um not only to the First Nations Community to all new bruners to a point where affordability no longer is an issue so we’re sitting on a resource here needed Des around the world and and we can be a huge solution why do you think Premier you

Haven’t been able to convince new bronze brickers that’s the case well I think the challenge here becomes one of of um kind of an issue of not understanding what’s going on in out west what First Nations deals are being made with companies in order to develop

LG exports um and and they’re seeing the value to their communities I mean we can we can help every First Nations community in the Province to lift them out of poverty or any situation economically because the dollars even on the most modest um estimate in in the in

A very small portion of what’s available we could we’re looking at 800 million to 1.6 billion to to the First Nations communities Alone um on a project that’s only a fraction of what’s available to us so I think we just need to understand how big an opportunity it is and and

Give it a real assessment of what it can mean and and today that’s been very very difficult okay I have to leave it on that note like I said I know your time’s limited you have an event to get to Premier I appreciate you making the time this evening thank you you’re very

Welcome thank you

N.B. Premier Blaine Higgs discusses the calls from several premiers asking to testify on the carbon tax at a federal committee.

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