Poilievre says he would repeal federal carbon pricing for industrial emissions

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says a government led by him would repeal both the federal consumer carbon tax and standards for pricing greenhouse gas emissions from large industrial emitters.

"There will be no taxes on Canadian consumers, no taxes on Canadian industries," Poilievre said on Monday at a news conference in L'Orignal, Ont.

At the same time, Poilievre said "provinces will continue to have the freedom to address" industrial emissions "how they like." 

Poilievre said a Conservative government would also expand eligibility for existing federal tax credits targeted at clean technology and manufacturing and "reward heavy industries who make products with lower emissions than the world average."

He said his government's approach would be "carrot, not stick."

According to an analysis published last year by the Canadian Climate Institute, pricing of industrial emissions is expected to be the biggest driver for reducing emissions in Canada between now and 2030, accounting for somewhere between 20 and 48 per cent of all reductions. 

Canada is committed to bringing down emissions by at least 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. Asked on Friday whether he would commit to an emissions target, Poilievre said he would focus on helping other countries reduce their emissions. 

The federal carbon-pricing regime introduced by Justin Trudeau's former government had two components: a consumer levy on fuel (commonly known as the carbon tax) and an emissions-trading system for large industrial emitters.

On Friday, in one of the new cabinet's first acts, Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal government took steps to eliminate the consumer carbon tax. At the same time, Carney has said that he would seek to "improve and tighten" the industrial pricing system. 

Poilievre has long opposed the consumer carbon tax, but until Monday he had avoided saying what he would do about the industrial price.

While federal legislation sets out national standards for pricing industrial emissions, provinces can use their own systems if they meet federal benchmarks and the vast majority of provinces have done so. Only Manitoba and Prince Edward Island, along with Nunavut and the Yukon, are using the federal system.

Alberta has had an industrial carbon-pricing system since 2007 and Premier Danielle Smith, a vocal critic of the federal consumer carbon tax, says she supports putting a price on industrial emissions.

"We're going to continue with an industrial carbon-pricing strategy because it is working," she said last May. 

The federal benchmark currently calls for the price on industrial emissions to rise by $15 per tonne of emissions each year, reaching $170 per tonne in 2030. If the federal benchmark were to be repealed, provinces would likely have to decide for themselves whether to maintain their existing systems, and at what price.