Ottawa to impose price on carbon
MP says plan must account for high cost of Northern living, dependence on fuels
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Saturday, October 8, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The territory's lone MP says a price on carbon is one way to protect the region's way of life.
The federal government announced a national carbon pricing scheme last week, though it remains unclear how it will affect the territory where transportation was among the highest sources of emissions in 2013. - NNSL file photo
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Liberal Michael McLeod, in an interview and speech in Parliament, expressed support for a price on carbon aimed at reducing emissions yet also said any effort needs to account for how the North already has a high cost of living and is now carbon-dependent.
"We in the Northwest Territories understand that a carbon price is an important measure to get people to stop using the fuels that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions but the very high cost of fuel in our communities is already an incentive to reduce consumption," McLeod said in a speech in the House of Commons. "Northerners do not choose high-carbon options. They are one of the only choices."
His remarks came ahead of a vote to formally adopt the Paris accord that sets emissions reduction goals and days after the federal government announced a national carbon pricing scheme.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a national plan that will see a carbon price imposed starting in 2018 of $10 per tonne for provinces and territories that don't have their own carbon tax or cap and trade system already in place. The price would rise $10 per tonne to $50 by 2022.
The government claims the tax would be revenue neutral, with funds returned to the jurisdiction they came from.
"We also emit very little in terms of greenhouse gas," McLeod said in an interview.
According to figures in an Environment and Natural Resources report, the territory generated 1,456 kilotonne equivalents of CO2 in 2013. One kilotonne equals 1,000 tonnes. That's 0.2 per cent of the national emissions that year. With a $10 per tonne price, that would amount to $14.5 million in the first year of carbon pricing if emissions remained at the same level.
In 2013, the transportation sector was the biggest contributor to emissions, putting out 710 kilotonne equivalents of CO2. The next largest component was industry, such as mines, at 420 kilotonne equivalents of CO2. Electricity contributed 66 kilotonne equivalents of CO2.
Despite the federal plan, Northwest Territories ministers' have sought assurances from the federal government it will receive special consideration given the already high cost of living.
The territorial government reiterated its message in a statement last week from Premier Bob McLeod in response to the federal scheme.
"We are prepared to work with our federal counterparts to create an NWT approach to contributing to achieving the objectives of a pan-Canadian framework on clean growth and climate change," McLeod stated, without elaborating on what, exactly, an NWT approach means.
"There is still work to be done with the federal government to determine what that might look like," Andrew Livingstone, a territorial cabinet spokesperson, stated in an e-mail.
The MP, brother to the premier, said whatever happens shouldn't raise the cost of living in the territory or discourage economic development. He suggested flexibility would include reducing corporate taxes to account for the carbon price. He said the details will come over the next two years as the national plan is worked out and implemented.
The federal McLeod also suggested an approach would include greater federal funding for switching to more environmentally-friendly power generation, such as solar, wind and hydro.
The MP in his speech pointed out the federal government's 2016 budget included $10.7 million over two years for renewable energy projects in off-grid indigenous and northern communities reliant on diesel and other fossil fuels for heat and power.
It's not clear how much of that may be spent in this territory.
