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OTTAWA — Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer is vowing that as prime minister he would scrap the clean fuel standard, one of the Liberals’ major environmental policies that to date has received little attention.

In a letter sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, Scheer referred to the clean fuel standard as a “secret fuel tax,” claiming it will further increase the cost of gasoline on top of the existing federal carbon tax.

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“It is … an unprecedented tax that will apply to all fuel sources, including the fuel used for manufacturing and home heating, which will make Canadian businesses less competitive and gas more expensive,” Scheer wrote.

The letter follows the publication of new details about the clean fuel standard in a proposed regulatory approach released by the government on June 28. The measure, which will require the use of cleaner fuels in transportation, industry and buildings, is one of the largest elements of Canada’s climate change plan, to be applied to liquid, solid and gaseous fuels. It’s expected to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 30 megatonnes a year by 2030, a substantial contribution to Canada’s efforts to reach its targets under the Paris Agreement.