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In a perverse kind of way, this week’s 50 per cent increase in Alberta’s unpopular carbon tax — to $30 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions — could be a big gift from Rachel Notley’s NDP government to her opponent, United Conservative Party (UCP) opposition leader Jason Kenney.

The increase means the province now ties British Columbia for having the highest carbon tax in the country.

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But in Alberta it stings as the province uses more energy for heating and transportation.

The cost in a typical Alberta household of a $30 a tonne tax is $667 a year, compared to $362 in the typical B.C. household, according to a study by Jennifer Winter, an energy economist at the University of Calgary’s school of public policy. At $50 a tonne, the annual cost is $1,111 in Alberta and $603 in B.C.

It’s no small change in a lousy provincial economy with high unemployment. Polls consistently show strong disapproval of the tax, which piles on top of higher taxes and increased environmental regulations that are depressing job creation in the oil and gas sector.