Braid: Guilbeault’s insulting claim that he doesn’t favour provinces

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Was it a just a bad dream, or did federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault really make this absurd remark?

“How fair would it be for the rest of the federation if we started carving out exceptions for provinces?”

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Guilbeault did say that. He was talking about his refusal to change the 2035 deadline for Alberta’s electricity grid to reach net-zero emissions.

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At any distance from the federal towers of zealotry, Canada seems to be nothing but exceptions for provinces. Exceptions are how we stumble and bumble along as a nation.

Exceptions are often positive, most notably in Quebec and Ontario, or negative in provinces less politically important to the Liberals.

Guilbeault went on to say, regarding exceptions, “we didn’t do it for (carbon) pricing.

“We worked with all provinces to ensure that we had a fair and equitable system when it came to pricing, and we will do the same for the clean electricity regulations.”

That is false. Quebec’s cap-and-trade pricing system — an exception granted by Ottawa — guarantees that Quebecers pay less.

This has been known for years. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation recently said Ottawa “is forcing drivers in every other province and territory to pay 14 cents per litre of gas in carbon taxes, while Quebecers pay 10 cents per litre.”

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Atlantic provinces have just started paying carbon tax after Ottawa rejected their pricing plans.

The New Brunswick government, especially, is livid. It claims the provincial plan would have cut emissions by 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. That would beat the federal target by 20 years.

Quebec makes similar claims for its dubious carbon trading scheme, but that’s Guilbeault’s home province. Exception approved.

In refusing to budge on his target…