Achi news desk-
New Brunswick’s alternative to the federal carbon price would be to ship liquefied natural gas to Europe instead of coal, Premier Blaine Higgs told a House of Commons committee Thursday.
Higgs, who appeared virtually before the House operations committee, said there is a business case for the plan, despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s doubts about the viability of shipping LNG out of Atlantic Canada.
However, there is just one problem.
“We have no gas supply at the moment,” said Higgs. “And that’s the issue.”
Higgs is one of three premiers who were invited to voice their opposition to a carbon price at the Conservative-chaired committee after they received no response from the Liberal-controlled finance committee.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe appeared on Wednesday, and Higgs and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith spoke back-to-back on Thursday. They are among seven premiers who recently called on Trudeau to cancel the carbon price increase planned for April 1, arguing that it costs people too much.
Smith called the carbon price “immoral,” “reckless” and “inhumane,” accusing the Liberals of freezing Albertans out by making natural gas unaffordable. After April 1, the carbon price will be more than twice the base cost of natural gas itself, he claimed.
The Liberals, for their part, say those arguments ignore the government’s carbon rebates, which are designed to offset the cost of a carbon price for most families.
The Conservatives and Liberals disagree about the impact of those refunds, although both cite the same recent report from a parliamentary budget officer.
That report found that the refunds do indeed exceed the direct carbon price costs that most families bear—but not once the impact of the carbon price on jobs and wages has been taken into account.
The Liberals disregard the latter, arguing that the economic cost would be even greater to ignore the climate crisis.
When asked about the premiers this week, Trudeau twice accused them of lying to Canadians about the carbon price.
“The facts matter,” he said Thursday in Vancouver. “The premiers, conservative premiers in particular, are misleading Canadians.”
Earlier this week, Trudeau also wrote to those top officials inviting them to suggest alternatives to the federal carbon price that would achieve the same results.
Higgs told the committee on Thursday that he had one.
Canadian natural gas shipped to replace dirty coal in power plants overseas would have a bigger impact on global emissions than the carbon price, he said. Coal produces more emissions when burned than natural gas.
“So my plea here is across party lines to say let’s think bigger,” Higgs said.
“Let’s look at Canada as a solution to the world’s environmental impact and changes and reductions, rather than us focusing directly on our internal affordability and the everyday costs of living.”
Higgs has long championed the development of shale gas in New Brunswick. A carbon price is unlikely to make a dent in world emissions as long as China keeps building coal plants, he argues.
He said Canadian emissions are a drop in the bucket of global emissions and that shipping cleaner fuels overseas to replace coal would be a more effective strategy.
“In Canada we think in a bubble,” said Higgs. “I propose to make a difference around the world.”
Last year a Spanish company walked away from a bid to build a natural gas export terminal in Saint John, citing the high costs of transporting gas, which would have to be sent by pipeline from Western Canada.
If New Brunswick produced its own natural gas, that wouldn’t be a problem, Higgs said.
Former Liberal Premier Brian Gallant enacted a moratorium on hydraulic fracking in New Brunswick in 2014. That decision came after violent anti-fracking protests rocked New Brunswick in 2013.
Fracking is a process that pumps large amounts of water and chemicals underground to break apart layers of rock and release pockets of gas trapped inside.
Smith was also pushed by Liberal MPs over her province’s decision to increase the provincial gas tax from nine cents to 13 cents per litre, restoring the previous excise tax amount cut by the province when gas prices were high.
The province’s gas tax is less than the carbon price, he said — on April 1 the price will add another 3.3 cents per liter of gasoline for a total effect of 17.6 cents per litre.
The provincial tax builds roads, he added. The carbon price does not.
Ontario Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk noted that Smith recently attended a “tax axis” rally with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. Kusmierczyk asked her if she planned to get rid of her own gas tax as well.
That tax, Kusmierczyk noted, does not include a refund.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on March 28, 2024
