The provincial government's newly passed carbon tax legislation could hurt greenhouses in Mountain View County, says Wildrose Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Nathan Cooper.
The legislation was passed by a vote of 42-39 after a marathon debate that ended at about 4:30 a.m. June 7.
Cooper, the party's house leader, says he moved that greenhouses be exempted from the legislation. It was one of 21 amendments proposed by the Opposition.
But only one of those amendments was supported by the government and thus passed – and it had nothing to do with greenhouses.
It was an amendment moved by the Progressive Conservative party. It allows receipts to be issued if items are confiscated during searches to make sure people are complying with the act.
“We've got a number of significant greenhouse operators in the constituency of Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, so I was proud to move an exemption for greenhouses – particularly in light of the fact that there is an exemption for purple fuel, which I am obviously pleased by,” Cooper told the Gazette.
“But greenhouse operators are part of the food chain – part of farming, part of local food production. They don't use purple fuel as their primary cost, they use natural gas. So we believe just like other provinces have an exemption for greenhouses within their carbon tax, that the province of Alberta should have done that.”
Premier Rachel Notley said by and large, amendments to the bill were not needed because it had been written very carefully.
The provincial government says the purpose of the tax is to put a price on carbon and thus spur Albertans to choose more environmentally-friendly forms of energy.
Notley has also said reducing the province's carbon footprint is part of the government's strategy to gain social licence to have things like pipelines built to move Albertan oil – especially from the oilsands -- to market.
The tax is expected to result in an extra $3 billion in revenue for the province in 2017-18.
The government says it will use that money for projects to make Alberta more environmentally friendly.
The carbon tax takes effect Jan. 1. When it does, gas will cost an extra 4.49 cents a litre and diesel prices will rise 5.35 cents a litre.
Provincial officials predict higher heating and gasoline fees will cost the average family another $443 in 2017.
However, the government says that two-thirds of Albertans — those in middle- and low-income brackets — will receive full or partial rebates. Those who earn more than $51,250 a year will not be eligible for a rebate.
The Opposition says the tax will hurt Albertans far more than the government says. Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean predicts it will pull at least $1,000 from every Alberta household.
“The government has shown itself to be quite ideological and many of our amendments were quite reasonable,” Cooper said.
“While we adamantly disagree with this carbon tax, many of our amendments wouldn't have made significant change to the carbon tax but just provided some accountability to Albertans.”
He noted one proposed amendment would have exempted charities from the tax “as many of these charities provide much of the services that government would have to provide if it wasn't for those charities.”
“And yet the government's only response was, well, those charities should just get more energy-efficient and we don't think that is a reasonable explanation for these charities that do such great work all across our province,” he said.
Another exemption proposed by the Wildrose Party would have called for a referendum on imposing the tax.
The Wildrose Party says the carbon tax is much like a provincial sales tax (PST) and according to existing legislation, if a PST is proposed, a referendum on that idea has to be held.
Another amendment proposed by the Wildrose Party would have required the cost of the carbon tax to be included on receipts when people fill their gas tanks.
Yet another would have prevented the government from using any revenue for projects that could be announced within six months of an election.
“This fund is going to be $3 billion a year,” he said. “It's a significant amount of money that a government could potentially spend in the last six months leading up to an election. We don't think that that's an appropriate use of these dollars.”
"They don't use purple fuel as their primary cost, they use natural gas. So we believe just like other provinces have an exemption for greenhouses within their carbon tax, that the province of Alberta should have done that."NATHAN COOPER WILDROSE PARTY MLA AND HOUSE LEADER
