General

Green Shift, redux?

Stephen Harper doesn’t rule out a future tax on carbon emissions

Stephen Harper doesn’t want Canada to have a carbon tax, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. In a year-end interview with CTV, the prime minister admitted the final decision will likely be out of his hands. “I mean, we’re going to have to see what the regime in the United States looks like,” Harper said of the prospects for a Green Shift-like tax on emissions. “We’re going to have to harmonize a lot of our efforts with their efforts to really be truly effective on a continental basis.” Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has already said he expects carbon pricing, either as a straight tax or under a cap-and-system, to be implemented some time in the future. But as far as Harper is concerned, it will be “very difficult” for Canada to do much of anything unless the U.S. implements new restrictions.

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