People take part in a Liberal party convention in Ottawa in May, 2023.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
The two expected front-runners for the Liberal leadership campaign would either scrap the consumer carbon price or make major changes, sources say – likely assuring that one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s legacy policies won’t survive past his government.
As part of her leadership bid, Chrystia Freeland, Mr. Trudeau’s former second-in-command, will announce that she will cancel the consumer carbon price if she wins the Liberals’ top job and becomes prime minister in March.
A source close to her campaign said Ms. Freeland is committed to fighting climate change, but she won’t fight Canadians on a policy that polls show they clearly do not support. The source said the former finance minister will propose replacing it with a new system in collaboration with provinces and territories.
A second campaign source confirmed the plan to The Globe and Mail. They said she won’t disavow the policy but will instead make the case that it has served its purpose.
The Globe is not identifying the sources who were not permitted to disclose the policy planks ahead of Ms. Freeland’s formal campaign launch.
Ms. Freeland has for years defended the existing policy, even as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre made scrapping it his top policy promise amid an affordability crisis that the Liberals were accused of ignoring.
As recently as this fall, she argued in the House of Commons that the price on pollution is “the most economically rational way to fight climate change” and said she was proud of the government’s work on the issue.
Ms. Freeland’s chief opponent in the Liberal leadership race is former central banker Mark Carney, who also stood by the carbon tax but has softened his position in recent months.
Ahead of his Thursday afternoon campaign launch in Edmonton, a source with his campaign said Mr. Carney has been clear in his conversations with Liberal MPs that the consumer carbon price needs major changes. However, during his leadership press conference, Mr. Carney declined to say what he will do with the carbon price, telling reporters he will release a comprehensive plan in the coming weeks.
Three Liberal MPs told The Globe that they do not expect the consumer carbon price to survive the leadership campaign and said it will be dropped no matter who wins.
The Globe is not identifying the MPs, who were not authorized to disclose Mr. Carney’s plans.
In an interview with The Globe in November, 2023, Mr. Carney defended the carbon price as an “effective policy,” and noted that it is recycled back to people through the rebate. At the time, he said walking away from it would cause massive uncertainty and be an “exceptionally costly decision” for climate policy and business investment.
By May of last year, however, he told a Senate committee that the consumer carbon price had been useful “until now” but that the country should be open to “better solutions.”
At a news conference in Windsor, Ont., Mr. Trudeau ducked responding to Liberal leadership candidates who are distancing themselves from the federal carbon price and instead defended the policy.
“We’re facing increasing challenges from climate change at home and around the world, and we’re continuing to step up by having moved forward on a price on pollution that not only reduces emissions and incentivizes green investment, but puts more money in people’s pockets right across the country,” Mr. Trudeau said.
“Future governments will make the choices they make.”
During a news conference in Washington on Thursday, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said he is still considering his own leadership bid and will make a final decision in the next few days. He defended the consumer carbon price, saying it is “the most economically efficient way to reduce emissions.”
On Thursday, the Conservatives said they would launch an ad campaign against Mr. Carney. The ad pulls past quotes from the former central banker on the carbon price and ends with the tag line: “Carbon tax Carney. He’s just like Justin.”
At a press conference in Delta, B.C. on Thursday, Mr. Poilievre attacked both Ms. Freeland and Mr. Carney’s previous support for the program.
“These lying Liberals will deny that right before the election to try and trick Canadians into letting them back in to raise taxes all over again,” he said.
With a report from Stephanie Chambers