(Winnipeg) The Manitoba government was defeated in Federal Court after a two-year legal battle against the federal carbon pricing system.
Federal Court Judge Richard Mosely dismissed the province’s argument that Ottawa should not have imposed its rising minimum price on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions since Manitoba was on its own plan which could have been just as effective, she pleaded.
“The contested decisions (of Ottawa) were consistent with the purpose of the Act, which is to reduce GHG emissions through pricing,” Justice Mosely wrote in his conclusion.
“The addition of Manitoba to the list (of provinces subject to federal pricing) complied with the purpose of the Act and the requirement that the subject be subject to the broad application of emissions pricing in Canada,” adds he pointed out that there was “no pricing mechanism for GHG emissions” in the province at the time of the announcement of the Ottawa decision.
Former Manitoba premier Brian Pallister was planning to impose a flat tax of $ 25 per tonne of GHG emissions. That proposed rate was lower than the federal threshold, but in Pallister’s opinion the province deserved credit for investing billions of dollars in clean hydroelectric power.
Ottawa imposed a minimum tariff on provinces that had not established their own carbon market system with similar or higher carbon values.
Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario have argued that the federal government interfered with provincial jurisdiction, but the Supreme Court ruled last March that Ottawa had acted within its constitutional authority.
For its part, Manitoba has chosen to challenge the legitimacy of the federal government to impose a carbon price on a province that already has its own plan to reduce GHG emissions with the same objectives.
Brian Pallister argued that Manitoba’s plan, which included more wetlands and subsidies to reduce fuel consumption in the transportation industry, could have achieved the same rate of reduction in GHG emissions without having to impose a tax on Pollution.
Justice Richard Mosely demolished this argument by stating that Manitoba had no plan in place at the time of the Ottawa decision and that, moreover, its calculations were wrong.
“Evidence from Manitoba shows that its Plan would have resulted in a reduction in emissions of 76,000 tonnes of CO equivalent by 20222 less than the reduction provided for in the model, ”observes the magistrate.
Brian Pallister stepped down as Prime Minister last month. The Progressive Conservative government responded on Tuesday by saying it would take the time to analyze the decision and its options.