Premier Danielle Smith puts 'Alberta first' with carbon tax challenge
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith launched a judicial application Tuesday to rebut the carbon tax carve outs benefitting only Atlantic Canada.
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Tonight, on The Ezra Levant Show, a feature interview with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her latest lawsuit against Justin Trudeau.
Last October, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a three-year tax freeze for oil used to heat residential buildings, while also expanding low-income grants to install electric heat pumps in the Maritimes.
Across Canada, heating oil constitutes only 3% of residential heating energy, with very low usage except for PEI (40%), Nova Scotia (32%), and Newfoundland and Labrador (18%). In Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, the use of residential heating oil is negligible, according to the Government of Nova Scotia.
"If you're going to make the case that you need to have national jurisdiction, then you need to apply the rules fairly across the board," Premier Smith previously told Rebel News.
"That's the point that we're making. That is a point [Saskatchewan Premier] Scott Moe has made."
Meanwhile, the federal government says the judicial application amounts to incessant political posturing. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and Justice Minister Arif Virani iterated that the Supreme Court had previously approved the levy.
"When the Supreme Court okayed Trudeau’s carbon tax, it was because the government argued a national problem needs a national solution. But Trudeau torpedoed that argument by creating a carve-out that mostly benefits one part of the country," reads a column by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF).
In the Supreme Court decision, it stipulated that "the withdrawal of one province from the scheme would clearly threaten its success."
Smith says the exemption is unfair to Albertans, who rely on natural gas to heat their homes, whereas Saskatchewan relies on natural gas and coal.
In March 2021, the Supreme Court upheld the federal carbon tax in a 6-3 decision despite legal challenges from both provinces and Ontario.
COMMENTS
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Bruce Atchison commented 2024-10-31 14:10:56 -0400You nailed it, David. We must keep ringing that alarm and preaching the good word about carbon dioxide. You and I learned in school that CO2 is plant food. Now these environmental lunatics are calling this life-giving gas a pollutant. But their unscientific nonsense is the pollutant we must get rid of.
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David Heinze commented 2024-10-31 01:18:33 -0400Bruce, I totally agree. However, Danielle is trying to walk a fine line and not come out and say that CO2 is good and our levels are low, after all she has to get elected otherwise we know what can happen. That is where we come in. To quote myself: “It is up to us, the public, to make our views and concerns known. To plant seeds and share information with others, even if our network is small. To pave the way for the good leaders to be able to get into power, stay in power and most importantly to do the right things.”
I think maybe due to reality setting in, public opinion is (maybe slowly) moving in the right direction, so we have to keep plugging and hopefully in time we can stop this foolishness about CO2 & concentrate on real issues. I know I find this to be very frustrating too, but we cannot let up. -
Bruce Atchison commented 2024-10-30 21:43:09 -0400Danielle Smith has done so much for Albertans. If only she’d drop her emissions mania. We need MORE carbon dioxide in the air, not less. It’s plant food and we rely on plants to feed ourselves and our livestock. Carbon sequestration is utter lunacy!
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Rosemary Eshghi commented 2024-10-30 20:59:11 -0400Over many years I have read that the eastern provinces have a higher rate of poverty than the western ones. Could that be a reason for the carbon tax carve out?
