Alberta Premier Danielle Smith told Justin Trudeau that scrapping the scheduled increase to the carbon tax would be a “political win” at a time when the Liberals desperately need one.
The leaders met at the Sheraton hotel in Calgary early Wednesday morning, although they attempted to keep the location secret from the public. Trudeau’s polling numbers are poor nationwide but especially in the west, and his recent trips to Alberta have attracted hoards of protesters.
In an exclusive interview with True North and The Counter Signal as she left the hotel to return to Edmonton, Smith said she raised the benefits of keeping the carbon tax at its current rate.
“I’ll let actions decide,” she said. “We’ll find out in a couple of weeks whether or not he was persuaded by it.”
Aggregated polling from 338Canada shows the federal Conservatives are leading Trudeau’s Liberals by 18 points.
According to legacy media reporters who were allowed in the room, Trudeau told the Alberta premier that rebates rise with the carbon tax.
“As of the beginning of April, the average family of four in Alberta will get $1,800 a year with the Canada Carbon Rebate,” he said.
The Trudeau government will be raising the carbon tax an additional 17 cents per litre of gasoline, 21 cents per litre of diesel and 15 cents per cubic metre of natural gas on April 1.
Seven premiers have told the prime minister to pause the carbon tax increase. On Sunday, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called on Canadians to protest outside the offices of Liberal and NDP MPs.
“Politics is not a spectator sport,” he told supporters in Etobicoke, Ont. “It is a participation sport. If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu. So you need to be at the table.”
Smith also said she and Trudeau found “common ground” on clean energy products together, like Dow Chemical’s $8.8 billion investment to build a net zero petrochemical complex near Edmonton.
The premier said she’s still trying to align the feds on Alberta’s target to be carbon neutral by 2050; Ottawa thinks that should be accomplished by 2035.
Following their meeting, Trudeau headed to a dental office at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) for a press conference.
True North was not given accreditation and was required by SAIT security to leave or be charged with trespassing.
At the media availability, Trudeau defended his environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, whom Smith has repeatedly said should be fired. He also went on a tirade about how Canadians must reduce their emissions.
“What decisions do we make collectively to tackle this problem,” he said. “The fact that we pushed off this problem for decades already means it gets more and more expensive to make the changes that are necessary.”
Smith shot back hours later saying Trudeau’s defense was “admirable” but doesn’t align with reality.
“The evidence demonstrates that there’s an Environment minister who’s been given a pretty free reign to trample the constitution and trample national unity,” she said.
