Carney to announce plan to kill consumer carbon price; shift to green incentives

Liberal leadership contender Mark Carney is expected to announce a plan on Friday to abandon consumer carbon pricing but keep industrial pricing in place. “The consumer carbon tax isn’t working — it’s become too divisive," Carney said in a written statement provided to The Canadian Press ahead of the announcement. "That’s why I’ll cancel it and replace it with incentives to reward people for greener choices."

That would include energy efficient appliances, electric vehicles and improvements to home insulation, he said. Carney, a former Bank of Canada governor who has spent the last several years as a United Nations special envoy for climate action, is also expected to outline a plan that would have big polluters, including oil and gas companies, help pay for Canadians to make those choices while still paying "their fair share for emissions."

The announcement seems likely to be the end of the road for one of the signature climate policies of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, with most other candidates still in the race promising to end or at least freeze the existing carbon price charged on fossil fuel purchases.

It is noteworthy that Carney has made this announcement at a time when the carbon tax is set to increase in April after Parliament resumes sitting at the end of March and opposition parties are preparing to topple the government.