Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre speaks in the House of Commons on March 10, in Ottawa.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he would scrap the carbon levy on industrial emitters as well as the consumer carbon levy.
Mr. Poilievre said that if his party is victorious in the coming federal election, his government would repeal the entire carbon-pricing law, including the levy on Canadian industries.
This means there would not be a levy on Canadian steel, aluminum, food production, concrete and other industries, he said.
“There would be no taxes on consumers, no taxes on Canadian industries. Instead, provinces will continue to have the freedom to address this issue how they like, but there will be no federal obligation to impose the tax,” Mr. Poilievre told reporters at a steel wire manufacturing plant in L’Orignal, Ont.
Consumer carbon pricing was shaping up to be the central campaign issue for the Conservatives before Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged during the Liberal leadership race to do away with it and the focus shifted to U.S. President Donald Trump’s America First trade agenda and threats to annex Canada.
Mr. Carney reduced the consumer levy to zero on Friday and promised to repeal the law that applies to consumers if the Liberals win an election expected to be called by Sunday.
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He would have had to recall Parliament to repeal the section of the law dealing with consumer carbon pricing but would likely have faced a non-confidence vote and certain defeat. The opposition parties vowed to defeat the Liberals if the House of Commons came back from prorogation on March 24.
Mr. Carney had said, while running for the leadership, that he would increase the levy on big industrial emitters, but he provided few details. He has also said a Carney-led government would impose a carbon border adjustment tariff on high polluting foreign imports, based on greenhouse gases emitted during production.
In London, where he met King Charles III and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Mr. Carney told reporters that he intends to impose a more efficient system so that the largest polluters can receive carbon credits on top of the carbon border tariff.
He noted the European Union will also be imposing its own carbon border tariffs starting next year, which means Canadian exports would be subject to a carbon price without the benefit of Canada receiving the money. To diversify trade to Europe and Asia, Canada must have a price on carbon, he said.
“It is a system that recognizes the new trading reality,” he said. “We are able to go out and help Canadian companies prepare.”
Mr. Poilievre has said that industrial carbon pricing hurts industries such as steel and aluminum, which have already been hit by Mr. Trump’s 25-per-cent tariff, and 10 per cent on energy, potash and critical mineral imports.
“The combination of Trump’s tariffs and Carney’s carbon taxes would be a disaster for Canadian workers,” he said.
The Conservative Leader said he would use technology and tax incentives to encourage heavy industries to make products with lower emissions. He vowed to build more natural gas pipelines and liquefied natural gas facilities for export to destinations in Europe and Asia, which would help reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions while getting world prices for Canadian energy.
“I don’t think it is an achievement to shut down a Canadian steel mill and then see one open up in China that produces 10 or 20 times more emissions for each unit of steel,” he said.
Mr. Poilievre’s scrapping of the federal policy would not necessarily end industrial pricing across Canada. As of now, all provinces except for Manitoba and Prince Edward Island have their own such systems in place.
In a joint statement, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz said that Ottawa imposes “onerous standards and requirements,” and that the Alberta government supports “Pierre Poilievre’s commitment to return jurisdictional authority back to the provinces to regulate their own industrial emissions.”
Grace Lee, a spokesperson for Ontario Premier Doug Ford, said in a statement that given the U.S. tariffs, “all levels of government need to look for ways to lower costs, support people and businesses, and make us more economically competitive.”
Ewan Sauves, a spokesperson for Quebec Premier François Legault, said the province has a carbon market system that works in Quebec, and would not comment on any positions taken by federal parties in the next election.
University of Ottawa law professor Stewart Elgie, who is chair of sustainable prosperity at the U of O’s Institute of the Environment, said greenhouse gas emissions will increase by about 10 per cent by 2030 if industrial carbon pricing is eliminated.
“That’s equivalent to doubling the number of cars and passenger trucks on the road,” he said. “That’s equivalent to doubling the emissions from British Columbia or Saskatchewan. It’s a big increase.”
Economist Chris Ragan, who chaired Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission and is an associate professor at McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy, said industrial carbon pricing is effective and designed to ensure competitiveness. It has not generated public antipathy like the consumer carbon levy, he said.
“So, if he’s going to eliminate this, then what is he going to replace it with? And my fear is that he will end up either replacing it with nothing or replacing it with something that is a much higher cost policy,” he said.
With a report from Adam Radwanski