Grande Prairie MLA Tracy Allard believes the federal carbon tax, which is set to come into effect in Alberta on January 1st, may not be as certain as some may think.
“The fact that it’s not coming until January 1st I think is good news for both Alberta and for Canada because there is a federal election this fall,” the rookie MLA says.
“This isn’t a partisan comment, but I think that the current government federally isn’t helpful to Alberta’s economy, and by extension, definitely damaging to Canada’s overall economy. We’ll see if that Carbon Tax actually comes into effect depending on the results of the federal election in October.”
The news of the federally mandated tax came on June 13th, as Environment Minister Cathrine McKenna announced that effective the first day of the new year, Alberta would be joining the list of other provinces which hadn’t mandated its own levy.
The decision came just weeks after Premier Jason Kenney officially repealed the provincial carbon levy as part of the Carbon Tax Repeal Act on May 30th.
Allard says, in the end, she hopes to have collaborative efforts from both sides of the political aisle come to a solution to the problem of tackling the ongoing and pressing issue of climate change.
“I’m hoping we can find a way forward that really serves all Albertans and by extension all Canadians. Unfortunately, even science is being debated, and I think that’s sad because facts should be facts.”
In May, the Province of Saskatchewan lost a 3-2 court ruling against the province’s court of appeals which found the federal government has the constitutional power to implement a carbon tax on a province which doesn’t meet the minimum standard set out by Ottawa.