British Columbia Premier David Eby is raising concerns about reports that Ottawa and Alberta are close to announcing a deal on industrial carbon pricing, saying it would put B.C. at a competitive disadvantage.
CBC News and The Calgary Herald cited anonymous government sources reporting that Alberta and the federal government have agreed that the province’s effective carbon price would increase to $130/tonne by 2040.
CBC reported that a formal announcement is due by the end of this week.
Eby said during an unrelated press conference on Wednesday he has “a lot of questions.”
“We are in direct competition with Alberta on certain projects. We will not be in a competitive position if Alberta has a special federal carbon price that the rest of us don’t have access to in the rest of Canada,” said Eby.
“If we have a federal carbon price of $170, and Alberta has a federal carbon price of $130, that is part of the components that a project proponent will consider in deciding where to move forward,” he said.
Eby said his government has not been informed of any potential deal and noted no formal announcement has been made by either level of government.
“We will be engaging with the feds on exactly what is being announced,” he said.
Each province and territory can design their own industrial carbon pricing system, but they are required to meet a federal benchmark.
The minimum national carbon price is currently set to increase by $15 each year to reach $170 per tonne in 2030.
Alberta and the federal government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in November that said Alberta’s carbon pricing system would “ramp up to a minimum effective credit price of $130/tonne,” but it didn’t specify a timeline. They committed to concluding an agreement on industrial carbon pricing by April 1.
CBC reported the tentative deal would raise the price from $95/tonne to $100/tonne next year and stay at that level until 2030, then ramp up to $130/tonne by 2040.
