Manitoba backs out of planned carbon tax

The Manitoba government says it is pulling out of its plan to charge a carbon tax and is joining some other provinces opposed to the federal government's demands.

Premier Brian Pallister says Ottawa has not respected the province's right to come up with its own plan with a lower rate.

The federal government has demanded provinces charge a tax on carbon emissions starting at $10 per tonne by the end of this year and rising to $50 per tonne by 2022.

Manitoba planned to charge a flat $25 per tonne that would not rise, starting Dec. 1, and obtained a legal opinion that it had the constitutional right to do so.

Pallister says Ottawa has refused in the ensuing months to back down from a threat to impose its own plan on the province.

As a result, he says Manitoba is backing away from any carbon tax and will focus instead on other efforts to curb emissions.

"We are standing up for Manitobans, by saying 'yes' to Manitoba's green plan, and 'no' to a carbon tax," Pallister said in a written statement Wednesday.

Ford vows to work with all provinces to scrap "costly and regressive tax"

Manitoba becomes the latest addition to the list of provinces rejecting the federal government's climate strategies. To date, Ontario, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Alberta and Prince Edward Island have said they are backing away from the planned carbon tax.

On Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford vowed to work with other provinces to "fight the federal carbon tax using every tool at our disposal."

In a statement, Ford said he will be travelling to Saskatchewan and Alberta this week to work with provincial leaders, including Premier Scott Moe and United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney, "to protect Canadian families from this unfair and punishing tax."

Ford and Kenney are set to hold a "Scrap the carbon tax" rally on Oct. 5 in Calgary. Kenney, who is running for Premier in the May 2019 Alberta election, has promised that his first bill will be the "Carbon Tax Repeal Act."

In his statement, Ford noted the federal carbon pricing "does nothing for the environment but instead takes money out of the pockets of hard-working people in order to fuel out-of-control government spending."

“I look forward to building a strong and united front with like-minded leaders who share our commitment to protecting our economy, protecting jobs and protecting the people from this costly and regressive tax,” Ford said in the statement.

With files from Fatima Syed