The federal carbon tax will be imposed in Alberta on January 1, 2020.

“I sent a letter to minister Nixon, he’s the minister of environment in Alberta, letting him know that as a result of Alberta’s decision to make it free to pollute in Alberta, that we will have the federal price on pollution,” federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said Thursday.

The new Alberta government officially repealed the former NDP government’s carbon tax on May 30 as part of Bill 1.

“Alberta had a made in Alberta plan to put a price on pollution, and we clearly need Alberta to be part of our national climate plan,” McKenna said. “Alberta has the highest emissions in the country.”

The federal government had previously imposed a levy of $20 per tonne of carbon emissions on April 1 in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick because they did not have provincial carbon tax legislation.

Seven per cent of the revenue is being given to small and medium-sized businesses as rebates to improve energy efficiency, while three per cent is going to municipalities, hospitals, universities and schools which can’t pass on added carbon tax costs.

The levy is set to rise by $10 a tonne every April until it hits $50 in 2022.

With files from The Canadian Press