Carbon pricing revenues will return to Yukon, premier says

Yukon Premier Sandy Silver says he got what he was looking for, in the new pan-Canadian framework to fight climate change — a commitment that any revenues from carbon pricing will return to Yukon.

"Now the good work happens between the bureaucrats, to make sure that what we campaigned on is actually going to happen," the new premier said.

Silver signed onto the framework on Friday, along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and most of Canada's other premiers. The goal is to meet the country's 2030 emissions reduction targets.

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Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister refused to sign the deal, but Silver was not overly concerned.

"To think that it was only a year since the Paris Accord, and only six months since the Vancouver protocol to have most of the premiers to sign on — all but two — we've come a long way, that's for sure," Silver said.

"We don't need all the premiers to sign on, but to have the majority like that — it's a huge success story."

The framework deal includes "annexes" that specify each jurisdiction's particular needs, and Silver says Yukon's includes the commitment that any revenues from a federal carbon pricing scheme are "recycled here in the Yukon," Silver said.

He said bureaucrats will now "hash out the details."

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Yukon's opposition is not satisfied, though, saying Silver needs to be upfront about the specific details of the deal, and explain what the impact will be on Yukoners.

Interim Yukon Party leader Stacey Hassard said Silver should have pushed for an exemption in the North, to carbon pricing.