Article content

The Wildrose will kill the NDP’s $3-billion carbon tax if it wins the next provincial election, but would consider replacing it with a revenue-neutral levy like B.C.’s if Albertans gave the government a clear mandate to do that, says leader Brian Jean.

“I can’t tell you that the Wildrose wouldn’t bring in a carbon tax in the future, but I can tell you this particular carbon tax would be eliminated because it is not a true carbon tax,” Jean said in a year-end interview. “It is just a back-door PST.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Wildrose leader vows to kill the NDP $3 billion carbon tax if elected Back to video

“Would it be difficult to eliminate? It might take some time to do so.”

Premier Rachel Notley scoffed at Jean’s promise, taunting him to campaign on it next election, which isn’t expected until 2019.

“I actually don’t even agree that he would do it,” Notley told the Herald. “He would have so many people telling him it’s a bad idea that he wouldn’t do … but by all means, run on it.”

The NDP government announced last month it would implement an economywide carbon tax on Jan. 1, 2017 in an attempt to curb the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated in the province.