EDMONTON—Alberta is going to court to fight the constitutionality of the federal carbon tax and argue that its levy on industrial emitters should suffice for reducing emissions.

“Our government contends this constitutes federal overreach into our exclusive provincial jurisdiction to manage our own affairs in a way that is suitable to local conditions,” Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer said Thursday.

The federal government has said Alberta will be hit with a carbon levy on Jan. 1, which will start at $30 per tonne of carbon emissions. The move came after the United Conservatives fulfilled their hallmark campaign promise of repealing the provincial carbon tax in early June.

The Alberta government plans to introduce a carbon levy on large industrial emitters.

The government filed a reference with the Alberta Court of Appeal and hopes it can get an expedited hearing some time in October.

“Greenhouse gas emissions are produced primarily by entities and activities that fall exclusively within provincial jurisdiction,” Schweitzer said.

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The move will allow Alberta to have its evidentiary record on the table ahead of any Supreme Court hearings on the matter, he said.

It’s a similar argument that Saskatchewan brought to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal earlier this year, but that court ruled in a split decision that the federal carbon levy was constitutional. The province is taking its case to the Supreme Court.

“We obviously disagree with the decision that was provided in Saskatchewan,” said Schweitzer. “This is a gross overreach by the federal government into clear provincial jurisdiction.”

He wouldn’t elaborate on the legal briefs until the filing time line had been laid out by the court, but said they expect the move to cost about $300,000.

NDP MLA Irfan Sabir, who was part of the previous Alberta government that brought in the provincial carbon tax, criticized the move as a waste of taxpayer dollars.

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“It’s insane that we will bring forward a similar challenge and expect something different in result.”

With files from The Canadian Press

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