OTTAWA—Another front in the battle over the carbon price is about to cool down, as the Liberal government announced it will remove the federal levy on fuel in New Brunswick and accept the province’s homemade version of a carbon tax for consumers.

The move comes just days after Ottawa made a similar decision for Alberta, accepting the carbon pricing system for heavy industry that was drafted by the pro-oilsands United Conservative government in Edmonton.

In a statement from Madrid Wednesday, where he is attending this year’s United Nations climate conference, Liberal Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson framed the decision as a sign that provinces previously opposed to carbon pricing are coming around to accept it.

“We’re seeing growing momentum for pricing pollution in Canada because it’s a cost-effective way to cut pollution and deliver clean growth,” Wilkinson’s statement read.

“We congratulate New Brunswick’s government for moving forward with an effective price on the carbon pollution from fuels throughout its economy.”

Speaking by phone from Fredericton, New Brunswick Environment Minister Jeff Carr told the Star the province decided to draft its own carbon tax after the federal election this fall, when parties supporting the federal policy earned more than 60 per cent of all votes. After proposing its own version of the tax to Ottawa, Carr said the province will table legislation to implement it later this week.

Carr confirmed the tax will meet the federal minimum of $30-per-tonne when it comes into effect next April, and will be designed to increase along with Ottawa’s strictures after that.

The federal Liberals passed a law last year to ensure all provinces and territories have a carbon pricing system of at least $30-per-tonne of emissions in 2020. The minimum will increase by $10 each year until it hits $50 per tonne in 2022.

Carr said the New Brunswick tax will also include rebates for residents of the province, and that they will result in larger “net” benefits than the payouts from the federal fuel levy — rebates that the Parliamentary Budget Officer concluded will outweigh the increased cost of gasoline and other goods for 80 per cent of recipients.

New Brunswick will also use proceeds from the tax for a green innovation and measures to protect from disasters like flooding that are linked with climate change, Carr said.

“It was time to do the right thing for New Brunswickers,” he said. “At the end of the day, I think Ottawa has realized that maybe the provinces are right, maybe we should give them a little bit more leeway.”

The federal carbon price has two components: a “charge” on gasoline and other fuels that increased the price of gas by 4.4 cents per litre this year; and a pricing system based on emissions-intensity of production for heavy industries like cement factories.

The two-pronged system was imposed in four provinces earlier this year (New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan), which sparked outcries and legal challenges from right-leaning governments that argued the carbon price was ineffective, economically damaging, and intruded on provincial jurisdiction.

After the NDP government in Edmonton was replaced by the United Conservatives last April, Ottawa announced it would also impose the pricing system in Alberta, starting in January 2020.

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Last week, Ottawa announced it accepted the Alberta’s governments version of the carbon price for heavy industries, which is set at $30 per tonne for next year, while the federal fuel levy — as well as the accompanying tax rebates from Ottawa — will still be imposed in the province in January.

On Wednesday, Wilkinson made a similar decision for New Brunswick, only this time it was to accept the provinces carbon price on fuel paid by consumers. The federal pricing system for heavy industry will stay in place, though Ottawa is reviewing a made-in-New Brunswick version of that as well.

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