Former finance minister Chrystia Freeland would “replace” the federal carbon price if she becomes the next Liberal party leader, a source close to her says.
Freeland, who resigned from the federal cabinet last month, has yet to reveal her intentions about the Liberal leadership race but said in a social media post on Wednesday that she is making calls and will “have much more to say very soon.”
A source close to Freeland told Motorcycle accident toronto today in a statement on Thursday that “I would expect Chrystia to say over the next few days that she is ready to fight climate change.”
“She is ready to make difficult decisions to meet our emissions targets and make sure big polluters pay for their outsized emissions. But she will not fight Canadians on a policy they have been clear they do not support,” the source said.
“That’s why Chrystia Freeland will replace the consumer carbon price with a system that will work within our federation and will be developed collaboratively with provinces and territories. She looks forward to working together on fighting the climate crisis.”
CTV News first reported on the statement Thursday morning.
The federal carbon price charges consumers and industries for fuels like gasoline and natural gas. It is part of Ottawa’s efforts to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Provinces where fossil fuels account for a greater share of electricity pay more in carbon pricing.
The measure has drawn criticism from the Conservative Party, which wants to scrap it, along with calls to explore other options by some Liberal and NDP premiers as well as political critics on varying sides of the spectrum.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about Freeland’s potential plan about the consumer carbon price.
He responded: “Obviously, people running in elections, running for the leadership will be able to put forward their own ideas about how to fight climate change.”
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“I’m very, very proud of our record of standing up and fighting climate change and making life more affordable for Canadians,” Trudeau told reporters in Windsor, Ont. on Thursday.
Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson defended the policy in a media callback Thursday from Washington, D.C., where he was meeting American officials about Canada-U.S. energy relations.
“I have said publicly many times, [the carbon price] is by far the most economically efficient way to reduce emissions and incent innovation and is done in a manner that is affordable, and cancelling the carbon price is actually going to make people on modest incomes less well-off in this country,” Wilkinson told reporters.
He asked how Freeland and others would fill the gap to meet Canada’s climate target.
“My question to Ms. Freeland will be what is her climate plan and how will she do that?”
Freeland has been defending the carbon price for several years.
At a House of Commons committee meeting in March 2024, she said: “What I know and what study after study has shown is that the price on pollution and our carbon rebates put more money in the pockets of eight out of 10 Canadians.”
During question period in December 2023, she said the carbon price is “the best way to fight climate change.”
In May 2022, also during question period, Freeland said: “The reality is that a price on pollution is the most effective way to fight climate change. The IMF, among others, has recognized the Canadian approach as an international model. That money goes back directly to Canadians.”
In December 2021, while tabling the fiscal update for that year, she said: “Canada has a world-leading price on pollution that is helping to lower emissions and grow a cleaner economy.”
The Canada Carbon Rebate returns 90 per cent of the revenue collected by Ottawa from the federal carbon price levied on households in eight provinces.
A report by the parliamentary budget officer published in October 2024 found that the vast majority of households get back more in rebates than they pay for carbon pricing, but for most, those gains are erased after broader economic factors are taken into account.
–with files from Motorcycle accident toronto today’ David Akin and The Canadian Press
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