File photo of Premier Jason Kenney in Lethbridge. (Lethbridge News Now)

By Justin Goulet

regulatory action possible if prices don't go down

Alberta Legislature votes in favour of motion calling for end to federal carbon tax increase

Mar 31, 2022 | 9:08 AM

EDMONTON, AB – Alberta Premier Jason Kenney continues to voice his opposition to the federal carbon tax. Ottawa is set to increase the carbon tax to $50 per tonne on Friday, April 1.

On Monday, March 28, Kenney announced a motion urging the federal government to cancel the planned tax increase.

READ MORE: Kenney urges Ottawa to cancel planned federal carbon tax increase in April

Late Wednesday night, the Premier tweeted that “Alberta’s Legislature just voted in favour of a motion demanding that the federal government stop its 25% increase in the carbon tax on April 1.”

Kenney added that, “the NDP sided with their coalition partner Justin Trudeau by voting to support the carbon tax increase.”

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During Monday’s announcement, Kenney said the increase could not come at a worse time for Albertans, who are dealing with high inflation rates, supply chain issues and the economic impacts of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

However, the Premier said Albertans can expect some slight relief when filling their tanks.

On Friday, April 1, the province will stop collecting the provincial gas tax. That’s anticipated to lower gas prices by 13 cents per litre. With the carbon tax resulting in an additional three cents per litre for drivers, fuel will still be 10 cents per litre cheaper.

If fuel prices do not go down, Kenney says the province can take action against gas stations.

“We should see prices go down by about 10 cents on Friday morning. We’ll be watching that like a hawk. We sent a clear message to the gas retailers that we won’t accept any games being played with this if they don’t pass on these tax savings. If they try to pocket a portion of that, we will be prepared to resort to using legal tools to protect consumers, and we are open to potentially bringing in regulatory power to compel retailers to pass on that savings.”

The premier ads that his finance department will be “closely tracking the actual pump price at the pumps” and will benchmark that against where prices are in the rest of the country.

In 2016, the former Alberta NDP government introduced a provincial carbon tax. One of Kenney’s promises when running to be Premier of Alberta in 2019 was to cancel the provincial tax.

At the time, it was known that the federal government had directed all provinces and territories to have a carbon tax, and that if jurisdictions did not have one of their own, Ottawa would impose a federal carbon tax on them.

Kenney attempted to fight the federal carbon tax in the Supreme Court of Canada, but his efforts were unsuccessful.

READ MORE: Kenney urges Ottawa to cancel planned federal carbon tax increase in April