Alberta Carbon Tax Deal Puts B.C. Under Pressure

A new agreement between Alberta and Ottawa has set a lower industrial carbon tax for Alberta, which could put pressure on British Columbia to adjust its own pricing schedule. The agreement sets the industrial carbon price at $115 per tonne in 2030, rising to $140 per tonne by 2040. This is significantly lower than the original federal plan, which had a headline price of $170 per tonne by 2030.

The Oilsands Alliance has expressed concerns that the new tax rates are still too high for Alberta's oil sands industry, stating that 'no other major oil producing nation faces a similar tax.' The global energy crisis has bumped climate change to the bottom of the list, and carbon taxes may be one of those luxury beliefs we can no longer afford.

A $20 billion carbon capture project is part of the grand bargain with Alberta, but there's a real danger that it will never be built because Canada made it unaffordable. The new agreement could bring some tax relief to B.C.'s resource sector, as the province may need to adjust its own industrial carbon tax schedule to match Alberta's.