OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper said today he hopes he won’t have to impose a carbon tax on Canadians as part of the fight to reduce global warming – but admitted he couldn’t entirely rule it out.
In a year-end interview with CTV News, to air on Boxing Day, Harper again stressed Canada’s need to co-ordinate its climate policies with the United States because the two nations are part of an “integrated continental energy market.”
If the U.S. implements regulations on climate change, he said, it will be “essential” that Canada act, but if it does not, it will be “very difficult” for this country to do much.
Asked point-blank if he foresaw Canadians paying a “carbon tax” in future, Harper said: “I hope not.
“I mean, we’re going to have to see what the regime in the United States looks like. We’re going to have to harmonize a lot of our efforts with their efforts to really be truly effective on a continental basis.
“Obviously we’re looking at avoiding any kind of additional taxes on Canadians. That’s a pretty important priority of this government.”
Harper’s position differs from that of Liberal opposition leader Michael Ignatieff, who told Sun Media/QMI Agency in his year-end interview that carbon will have a price in future, whether it is under a cap-and-trade system or other policy. Carbon dioxide emitted by fossil fuels is a major greenhouse gas, believed to contribute to global warming.
Speaking to the French-language network TVA, Harper said the climate change accord reached in Copenhagen wasn’t as strong as Canada had hoped, but having all the countries on the same page was an accomplishment.
“It’s an accord between the sovereign nations of the planet, nearly 200 countries, obviously, it’s not easy. We would have preferred an accord with more constraining targets, but it is difficult with China, India and developing countries who demand more flexibility,” he said.
Harper shot back at Quebec Premier Jean Charest who suggested, in Copenhagen, that the provinces might not follow a weak agreement.
“I think Canadians expect that when Canada is taking part in international negotiations, partisan, provincial or private perspectives are not brought up on the international scene,” Harper said.
The prime minister suggested if Quebec wanted stronger more restrictive targets, it could go at it alone.
“The environment is a shared jurisdiction. If, at the end, the government of Quebec wants more constraining targets for Quebec, it is not forbidden. It can implement them,” Harper said, adding Ottawa gives Quebec $300 million for the environment.
The prime minister said he is optimistic about the economy in 2010 following a rough, recessionary 2009 and said there is no reason Canada’s future economic growth can’t outstrip that of other western nations. “We’re in a relatively strong position and we should be able to take advantage of that.”
But he echoed the cautions of Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney about borrowing while interest rates are at an all-time low.
“I do think families out there should remember as they’re renewing their mortgages that mortgage rates are really at not just historic lows but very unusual lows,” Harper said. [It’s] almost inevitable that down the road, interest rates will be higher, so families should budget accordingly.”
He added however, he won’t “hit the panic button about” overall consumer debt.
“Debt levels in Canada are a little bit on the high side but they’re nowhere near the situation we see in the United States.”
Turning to federal debt and deficits, he said the government will return to balanced budgets within four to five years, not through “radical approaches” but by disciplined, constrained spending.
As Sun Media reported earlier, he also confirmed the next federal budget will be in March, but said he has not yet decided whether to prorogue Parliament at the end of January and start a fresh session.
Christina.spencer@sunmedia.ca
