Trudeau defends carbon tax at Saskatoon town hall Q&A

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is maintaining his government will impose a carbon tax on Saskatchewan come Jan. 1, just one day after a contentious meeting with Premier Scott Moe.

Trudeau made the statement at a town hall Q&A at Saskatoon’s Sask. Polytechnic campus Thursday afternoon, after a man who identified himself as a farmer asked “What’s the point?” of a carbon tax.

“Polluters should pay,” the prime minister responded.

“Right now, we are polluting the atmosphere and it’s free. There’s no cost associated with polluting.”

He said current costs for cleaning up pollution in rivers and air is borne by communities rather than companies, necessitating the tax.

Self-identified farm boy expresses concerns about carbon tax in 3rd Q. He asks why Trudeau can't focus on incentives for environmentalism instead. PM says polluters have polluted for free, so pollution should be taxed. #yxe #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/rCozHizMQB

— Chris Vandenbreekel (@Vandecision) September 13, 2018

Trudeau said the national climate framework, which mandates province to enact plans for carbon pricing through either taxation or cap-and-trade, can be flexible for provinces as long as the “impact and stringency” is equivalent.

“Unfortunately, there a couple of provinces, like Saskatchewan, who have said they don’t want to be a part of doing that,” he said.

“In that case, we’re going to have to move ahead and bring in a price on pollution here in Saskatchewan that will start coming in as of Jan. 1.”

Premier Moe said Wednesday a carbon tax would cost the provincial economy more than $1 billion.

Trudeau was also asked about making progress in reviving the Energy East pipeline extension, which was abandoned by TransCanada in October.

The extension would have carried bitumen from Alberta and Saskatchewan to refineries in New Brunswick.

The prime minister said the pipeline proposal never reached his government for approval before the company stepped back, but he was open to revisiting it.

“If they come forward with a project again, we will absolutely look at it,” he said.