[updated] Carbon pricing's role in Canada’s green recovery
Supreme Court to hear arguments this week on Justin Trudeau's signature climate policy
Update (March 26, 2021): The Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday on this issue, finding that the federal government’s carbon pricing system is constitutional.
TVO’s John Michael McGrath sums things up nicely:
“The alternative to this very lengthy and public and regrettable temper tantrum would have been to do nothing and let the courts remain silent on climate policy — conservatives would have been better off. If Canada’s right can’t make peace with the carbon tax (an idea invented by conservatives to minimize state regulation of pollution, lest we forget), they can at least keep the battle where it belongs: in election campaigns.”
Carbon pricing is not an exciting topic. At least, it really shouldn’t be.
Our day-to-day activities like driving cars with internal combustion engines, or heating our homes with fossil fuels, create an unwanted accumulation of carbon emissions. So, to nudge these behaviours (and the businesses who enable them) towards less carbon-intensive options like zero-emissions vehicles or more energy-efficient homes, Canada has made carbon pollution more expensive. Basically, if you choose lower carbon options for these activities you’ll pay less for them.
That’s it. Snore, right?
But if you’ve heard anything at all about climate policy in Canada over the past year or two, it was probably due to the controversies surrounding carbon pricing. In its short history in the public spotlight, carbon pricing has been the primary focus of a federal election and three provincial legal challenges (three and a half if you count New Brunswick’s lingering threat to support a legal challenge).
And now one of those cases – Saskatchewan’s – will be heard at the Supreme Court of Canada this week.
Supreme Court of Canada. Photo credit: Jason Rowe, Flickr
Here’s a timeline of Canada’s carbon tax drama:
Fulfilling one of Justin Trudeau’s election promises, the federal government introduced the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (GHGPPA) in early 2018. This legislation applied carbon pricing to provinces without a system in place. B.C. and Quebec, for example, already had carbon pricing.
Saskatchewan launched (and lost) a legal challenge, which led to their Supreme Court appeal. Premier Scott Moe has criticized Trudeau’s “ambitious green agenda.”
Ontario launched (and lost) a legal challenge too. Premier Doug Ford repealed his predecessor’s carbon pricing system, a decision that is now costing the province $3 billion over four fiscal years. Ford also recently lost his court battle to force the province’s gas stations to display partisan stickers in an act of compelled speech.
Alberta launched (and won) its legal challenge. Premier Jason Kenney also repealed his predecessor’s carbon pricing system, despite oilsands leaders expressing that they “don’t want to be left behind” in lowering their carbon footprint.
Canada’s 2019 federal election became one of the more pivotal moments in this debate, after former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer’s vain efforts to use carbon pricing as an attack against the Liberals. “The big winner was the carbon tax,” with two-thirds of Canadians voting for political parties who supported it.
Carbon pricing could play an important (and blissfully quiet) role in Canada’s green recovery. It’s already Trudeau’s key climate policy, and it’s been fire-tested by the electorate. But would a defeat for the federal government at the Supreme Court unravel it all? Maybe not.
What if, despite a possible ruling against the federal government, Canadians – and conservatives, specifically – have already accepted that carbon pricing is a smart strategy for altering our climate-destructive behaviours?
According to a recent poll of Greater Toronto Area residents, “67% of potential Conservative voters say they cannot vote for a party that doesn’t have a credible climate plan.” And: “67% also say a carbon tax and rebate should be a priority in a credible plan.” Even the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Erin O’Toole, has said he’s committed to meeting Canada’s Paris targets.
When it comes to Canada’s pandemic recovery, another poll out of Calgary suggests there’s no blank cheque for the federal government to prioritize climate policies at all costs, with three out of four Canadians looking for a recovery that incorporates natural resource industries.
And if that wasn’t enough of a knot, another new poll shows that half of Canadians “want to see the federal government announce bold new ideas for how to fundamentally improve people’s lives and deal with climate change” (and they really want the rich to pay for it too).
The choices for Canada’s green recovery have the potential to define the direction of this country for a long time, so it’s no surprise that this debate is so ferocious. Saskatchewan’s Supreme Court appeal, however, is an unlikely pathway for that province and others like it to save face in the cultural movement away from short-term gains that jeopardize our long-term health and prosperity.
Canadians keep making it clear that they want a serious approach to addressing climate change, and despite the court challenges and rhetoric during recent elections, carbon pricing will likely form the backbone of our coming green recovery.