Carbon taxes, federal financing agreements for other major projects “punish” Nova Scotians, says the prime minister

The Nova Scotia government’s frustrations with its federal counterparts were palpable when the prime minister and ministers spoke to the media on Thursday.

Annoyance is unlikely to change the three offensive federal and provincial files that have been identified: the pending carbon tax on gasoline, diesel and home heating oil, the required transportation infrastructure upgrade of the Isthmus of Chignecto and the proposed Atlantic Loop energy project.

“Nova Scotians know that the carbon tax will drive up the price of gasoline, also the price of diesel, also the price of home heating oil, also the price of everything they buy in every single store,” said Prime Minister Tim Houston. .

“This is no surprise,” he said. “What is surprising is that the federal government is punishing Nova Scotians in this way. It is an unnecessary burden, it will not contribute to our collective commitment to preserving the planet, it will not diminish our collective commitment to combat climate change.”

Houston said there is agreement that governments should mitigate the effects of climate change.

“What people disagree on is the how. The federal government is fixated on taxing people more and we are fixated on real, meaningful solutions that will protect the planet.”

Going into Canada Day, the carbon tax will add 14.31 cents per liter of gasoline in Nova Scotia and 17.39 cents per liter for diesel and light heating oil, including heating oil.

The federal government’s new standard clean fuel regulations will push the price of gas, diesel and heating oil even higher on July 7.

Clean fuel regulations require gas and oil producers to gradually reduce their carbon intensity – the amount of carbon released during the production and consumption of gas and diesel – by about 15 percent from 2016 levels by 2030.

A spokesman for the federal environment minister told The Chronicle Herald this week that the regulations need not lead to immediate price increases for consumers.

But in a press release on Wednesday, the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board said clean fuel rules would add 3.74 cents per liter for gasoline and 4.17 cents per liter for diesel from July 7, the first regulatory pricing after the rules are passed. applied.

Gas up 18 cents

In the first week of July, Nova Scotians therefore pay 18.05 cents per liter of petrol and 21.46 cents per liter of diesel extra.

“The reality is that people who are not big polluters are already being cheated,” Sean Fraser, the federal immigration minister and MP for Central Nova, argued Wednesday while in Bedford for a health care and immigration announcement.

Fraser followed the federal liberal line that most Nova Scotians and Canadians will be as good or better off paying the initial carbon tax on fuels and recouping the federal stimulus rebate, which will result in a family of four in Nova Scotia paying quarterly receive payments of $248 every three months, starting mid-July.

“It’s not like the money you pay as a result of fuel costs will be the same money you get back,” Fraser said. “Because everyone owns the environment of the atmosphere equally, they should pay everyone more if someone damages it.”

Fraser said the carbon tax is a fair system and one of the most effective ways to reduce emissions by encouraging less fuel consumption.

Regarding the Isthmus of Chignecto, Houston sent a letter Thursday to Dominic LeBlanc, the federal secretary of intergovernmental affairs and infrastructure, saying it is much better to take preventive rather than reactive measures. beneficial to Canadian communities.

The isthmus is a 14-mile stretch of land connecting mainland Nova Scotia to New Brunswick and the rest of the country by highway and rail.

The highway and rail infrastructure, which carries $35 billion worth of trade each year through the corridor, has long been at risk of flooding in the Bay of Fundy that could breach an aging levee system.

Three options

In March 2022, a $700,000 engineering study emerged with the three best options to protect highway and rail infrastructure, including bridges, each of which consisted of strengthening the levee system and each estimated to cost between $200 million and cost more than $300 million. time of study.

New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have agreed on a two-option hybrid as the best solution, but to get money from the disaster relief fund, the application must be submitted by mid-July.

The problem for Houston and the Nova Scotia government is that the federal government is only taking on half of the disaster fund bill, and the two counties would have to pay the rest.

“This is an important national trade corridor. It’s a very important project. It’s a big problem for our county,” Houston said. “We recognize all of those things, but we just want the federal government to step up and acknowledge its responsibility here. The letter outlines that to Mr. LeBlanc.

“The federal government is fixated on taxing people more, and we’re fixated on actual, meaningful solutions that will protect the planet.”

– Prime Minister Tim Houston

Houston claims the infrastructure is a federal responsibility, as are dozens of other infrastructure projects of national importance that have been completed in Nova Scotia and other provinces without any provincial funding.

The federal government is trying to force Nova Scotia and New Brunswick “to sign up for a project that is the sole responsibility of the federal government,” Houston wrote to LeBlanc.

Houston said if the county has to pay for what needs to be handled by the federal government, it will mean abandoning other important county projects and issues.

Another way forward would be to take the federal government to court to force it to meet its funding responsibility, but Houston said the impending risk to infrastructure is too great to wait for the case to work its way. makes its way through the justice system.

“The courts can take a long time,” he said. “We would have two parallel streams. They can heavily arm us to accept half for the time being while we continue to use the legal process to get what Nova Scotia is rightfully owed.

“These are discussions that need to happen.”

Discussions about the proposed $6.7 billion Atlantic Loop project seem less palliative for the county government.

The project includes the construction of new power transmission lines from Quebec to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, enabling additional clean energy to be transported throughout the Atlantic region.

The Prime Minister said in an opinion letter to The Chronicle Herald that the Loop could be good for Nova Scotia at the right price.

He said the federal liberals claim they are “spending $4.5 billion on the project,” but omitting the key detail that the $4.5 billion must be paid back by Nova Scotia taxpayers.

“It’s worth noting that this didn’t happen in Newfoundland, where, facing similar challenges, the federal government stepped in with more than $5 billion, most of it non-repayable.”

Houston said the federal proposal would eventually double electricity rates for Nova Scotians.

“I don’t want to sign for that,” he said. “I don’t think Nova Scotians would approve. That’s just based on the numbers as they are. What if there are cost overruns? This has the potential to bankrupt our province.”