The leaders of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut have given their support to the Conservative premiers fighting against the federal Liberal carbon tax plan.
In the wake of Jason Kenney’s majority victory in Alberta, NWT Premier Bob McLeod says he is excited to work with a leader who understands the importance of the energy sector.
“I think there are a lot of things that I have been saying that have been pretty similar with premier-elect (sic) Kenney,” McLeod said in an interview. “I think that we can accomplish a lot.”
“We are very concerned about the fact that we ask our children to go to school, and we got to keep our end of the bargain and make sure we have jobs and opportunities for them,” he added.
The oil and gas sector is a crucial employer to remote and Indigenous communities in both Alberta and the Northwest Territories.
McLeod, like Kenney, believes the federal government’s inability to get new pipelines constructed is detrimental to his community’s economic development. McLeod also took the opportunity to slam the federal government for banning drilling in Arctic waters without consultation.
“I think working with Jason (Kenney) will help us in that regard,” McLeod said, referring to pushing for new pipelines.
Nunavut Premier Joe Savikataaq was even more unequivocal of his support of Kenney and the other premiers fighting the carbon tax.
“I hope if they win, we would be benefiting,” Savikataaq said “No one in Nunavut asked for the carbon tax and no one in Nunavut agreed to it.”
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick are all challenging federal Liberal-imposed carbon tax in court.
While Nunavut has not joined onto the court challenge, Savikataaq says he supports the challenge.
The decision on the carbon tax challenge brought by Saskatchewan is expected on Friday. The decision from the Court of Appeal for Ontario is due in the next few months.
