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VICTORIA — As Premier Christy Clark prepares to discuss climate change with other first ministers in Ottawa starting Thursday, she cautions that the national carbon pricing plan needs to be clarified to ensure fairness and equity.

“There should be one rate of tax,” Clark told reporters during a conference call Wednesday. “If it’s going to be a national tax, it should be the same rate across the country.”

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The problem, as Clark noted, is that the federal government is allowing provinces to adopt a variety of pricing schemes for taxing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

B.C. imposed a carbon tax in 2008 and Alberta is moving to a similar model starting in January. But Ontario and Quebec have opted for the system known as cap-and-trade and other provinces are mulling hybrid plans.

“How do we create equity between all the provinces so that everybody truly has caught up to B.C.?” Clark challenged. “If we don’t decide that first, we could be in a situation where B.C. and Alberta both will be really disadvantaged versus Central Canada if our carbon pricing is just so much more expensive.”