Carbon conundrum: Tories ponder how to deal with issue in 2018 campaign

New Brunswick Progressive Conservatives are facing their own carbon-price conundrum as they plan for an election campaign next year.

The PCs are critical of the Liberal government's decision to bring in a price on carbon next year but are acknowledging it won't be easy for them to craft an alternative to put before voters in 2018.

"It's a great hypothetical question to ask," PC finance critic Bruce Fitch joked with reporters Thursday after delivering the Opposition party's official response to the provincial budget.

That budget contained no details about a price on carbon, even though the government must implement one next year if it doesn't want the federal Trudeau government to impose one.

Awkward timing

Fitch said the timing is awkward for Premier Brian Gallant because it appears the carbon price — either a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system — will have to be implemented in the months leading up to the election.

"This Liberal government is in a bit of a bind because what's the next budget going to look like?" Fitch told reporters.

In his budget response, Fitch called the Liberal handling of the issue "awful" and said there was no evidence that previous gas tax increases had prompted New Brunswickers to reduce their use of fossil fuels.

This Liberal government is in a bit of a bind because what's the next budget going to look like?- Bruce Fitch, PC finance critic

But Fitch acknowledged to reporters his own party is also facing some awkward timing on the issue.

Assuming the provincially crafted Liberal carbon price is in effect before the next election, the PCs can't campaign on repealing it unless they have a replacement. That's because with no provincial pricing mechanism in place, Ottawa would impose its own model.

So the Tories may have to come up with their own carbon-pricing system — something they oppose philosophically — and argue it's better than either the Gallant or Trudeau versions.

'Long, hard discussion'

"We'd have to have a long, hard discussion," Fitch said. "Not even knowing what form [Gallant]'s is going take is one of the difficulties in saying where we would go on that."

He wouldn't say whether the PCs would put an alternative proposal in their 2018 campaign platform at all. While the party has started election-planning meetings, Fitch said he'd defer to leader Blaine Higgs on the question.

Finance Minister Cathy Rogers refused again Thursday to be pinned down on when the Gallant government would implement its carbon price.

Ottawa has said it wants provinces to adopt some form of regime "by 2018."

If that means the start of the calendar year, Rogers's budget Tuesday should have included details. It covers the fiscal year from April 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018.

No answer on timing

But Rogers said in her budget speech the government was still working on a model for New Brunswick.

"We want to put the right analysis in it," she said again Thursday. "We want to do it right."

• Budget doesn't commit to carbon pricing starting in 2017-18
• New Brunswick-made carbon pricing scheme coming, Gallant says

She also suggested that the federal government might be flexible on the deadline next year.

"They want 2018," she said, without specifying whether that means the start of the year. "We're working very very hard right now … on meeting their deadline.

"But it could be early. It could be later — whenever we feel confident with the mechanism that works for New Brunswickers and works for our types of businesses."