Premier Says PM Doesn’t Get Rural Reality
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston continues to share his view that Ottawa doesn’t understand rural economies, and the carbon tax on fuel oil is the wrong policy choice.
Speaking on Six Rivers Morning Talk radio, on his regular Monday appearance, Houston says the 14-cent-per-litre jump in gas taxes due to take effect on July 1st (and further hikes to follow that are estimated to reach a whopping 61-cents-per-litre) make no sense in dispersed rural communities.
Designed to get people to change driving habits and reduce fossil fuel consumption, Houston notes, “We have to drive. Our climate is such that we have to heat our homes. There is no option for most people to bicycle or walk to work, or take public transit. There is no way to curb that behaviour of Nova Scotians. It doesn’t help the planet, we still have to drive.”
The Premier says you can be against both climate change and the carbon tax. He says his government does not deny climate change, but he believes the provincial government’s plan, which includes more wind, hydro, and renewable energy systems, would be huge steps that would make a difference. But, according to Houston, “Ottawa won’t listen”.
Houston also called out the provincial Liberal party for not taking their federal counterparts to task on the issue. He said the Liberals should stop pointing the finger at him and stand up for Nova Scotians.
Six Rivers host Bill Martin suggested to the Premier that the Nova Scotia Liberal leader, Zach Churchill, seemed to be trying to make Nova Scotians believe that it’s Houston who is imposing the tax.
The Premier said Churchill’s position is to “roll over and take it” from Ottawa, and discounts the Liberal’s suggestion to cut provincial taxes to cushion the federal blow are not the answer. Churchill has called on the province to freeze the provincial portion of the gas tax and to reduce the provincial income tax.
The Premier plans to speak with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this afternoon at an economic conference in Antigonish, where he will “urge the PM to have some common sense and work on a real plan.”
The federal environment department, meanwhile, plans to have the first of the quarterly rebate cheques in the mail within two weeks of the carbon tax implementation. Those cheques — $248 every three months — will, the government says, reimburse Nova Scotians for more than they will be spending in carbon taxes overall.
Houston says the Federal Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, has acknowledged that the department doesn’t know the full impact that the carbon tax will have on Nova Scotians. Houston thinks the “Federal government wants to go around the world and tell people ‘We put a tax on all canadians,’ and you should too!”.
Did you miss the Premier’s radio appearance today? You can hear it now or at your convenience in the Morning Talk archive at https://vimeo.com/showcase/9635991.
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