New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs is proposing a provincial solution to Ottawa’s carbon tax: shipping liquid natural gas to Europe as a coal alternative.
The premier highlighted liquified natural gas (LNG) exports as an alternative to the carbon tax during his testimony before the Government Operations and Estimates committee March 28. He is the second of four provincial premiers to testify before the parliamentary committee this week about the impact the April 1 federal carbon tax hike will have on their provinces.New Brunswick could foreseeably export LNG to other parts of the world to reduce the rates of reliance on coal power plants in places like Europe and China, Mr. Higgs said, adding that it would not only help the Canadian economy but positively impact global emissions.
He noted that China coal plants are being built in “record numbers; 80 to 100 a year.”
“We are one of the few nations that have the opportunity to have it all,” he said. “We have the resources, which we’ve always thrived on [and] we have the ability to have major climate change impact beyond our borders beyond the 1.5 percent of emissions that currently we’re focused on internally.”
Federal Carbon Tax
Ongoing carbon tax increases could lead to a hike of as much as 60 cents per litre on gas by 2030, Mr. Higgs said, adding that even with carbon tax rebates, Canadians in his province would be worse off as prices of groceries and other commodities rise.
Liberal party MP Irek Kusmierczyk questioned the premier on prices, claiming that for every dollar spent in 2022, during the highest period of inflation, 47 cents were corporate profits. He cited a study that claimed oil and gas companies were part of four industries that made 25 out of the 47 cents in corporate profits.He asked Premier Higgs if he had spoken out about large corporate profits. “I’m just wondering when this was happening, when these corporations were gouging Canadian consumers and New Brunswickers, did you speak out publicly? On behalf of New Brunswickers?”
Mr. Higgs said he did not know the exact figures on corporate profits but pointed to the “huge exodus” of businesses from western Canada. He said Ottawa needs to “look at the cost of operating in our country and the cost of keeping businesses here.” He described New Brunswick’s environmental standards as the “cleanest in the world” making it an ideal choice for gas production.
“The balance is, how do we keep companies operating, maintaining their facilities and staying here?” Higgs asked. “And how do we have a fair price that they pay for operating in our country? That has to be looked at in great detail.”
Mr. Moe went on to speak of his province’s Heavy Emitter Fund which then pays into a technology fund that encourages investment in technologies to reduce, capture or sequester carbon emissions.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston are also scheduled to testify before the committee.
The 23 percent carbon tax increase April 1 will see pricing rise from $65 to $80 per tonne. Ottawa implemented the carbon tax in 2019 at $20 per tonne. The price is set to rise $15 per tonne every year until it eventually reaches $170 per tonne in 2030.
