Canada releases plans for a nationwide carbon tax

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. CREDIT: AP PHOTO/KOJI UEDA

Canadian provinces will have two years to implement their own carbon pricing scheme, otherwise they will have to adopt a nationwide carbon tax, according to a government statement released Monday afternoon.

The news came after the Ministers of the Environment met to discuss the country’s environmental and climate goals in advance of this year’s U.N. Conference on Climate Change, which will begin on November 7 in Morocco.

Canadian Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna previously alluded to the idea that the national government might compel provinces to adopt some kind of uniform carbon price if the provinces themselves did not act to adopt one, but was vague on details. Four provinces — British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec — currently have some kind of price on carbon, representing 80 percent of Canada’s population.

Canada’s federal government takes a cue from British Columbia’s price on carbon

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