Newfoundland and Labrador’s Liberal Premier Andrew Furey voiced strong opposition to the federal Liberal’s carbon tax policy, and accusing them of “jurisdictional creep.”
Furey explained his stance while visiting the Empire Club of Canada in Toronto, after he was asked point blank why he’s against the Trudeau Government’s carbon tax.
Furey said that in terms of electric vehicles, they’re simply not an option right now “either from the infrastructure or the availability of the vehicle itself.”
In a community like Saint Anthony, he said “There’s a large number of crab fishermen, they have to drive Ford F-250s in order to pull their pots.”
“There’s mining people there too, so people have to drive big vehicles,” he added.
“It doesn’t make sense”
Despite understanding the federal Liberals’ fiscal arguments, Furey said that he separates it from the policy argument.
“So in that context, I don’t understand how it would achieve the fundamental environmental imperative goal. I don’t. It doesn’t make sense from a logical perspective,” he stated.
He further noted that Newfoundland already has their own plan that’s progressing towards meeting its environmental targets by 2030. These goals are nearly three-quarters achieved “without really any impact of the carbon tax.”
“Our grid is 92% green as it is,” he added.
“Jurisdictional creep”
Furey also said he’s concerned over “jurisdictional creep” from the feds.
“It doesn’t work if you come into our jurisdiction and say ‘We’re going to do something’ and then ‘We’re gonna collaborate after.’ I would argue that that’s trying to alter the fundamentals of the Constitution through convention of fiscal current fiscal levers, that’s not what the constitution was set out to do.”
Last month, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith joined other Premiers in demanding PM Justin Trudeau convene an emergency meeting to discuss the recent carbon tax hike.
