New Brunswick Conservative MP John Williamson says his province should go back to using the federal carbon price because at least it comes with rebate cheques that could ease the current pain of the price at the pump.
Williamson says he still definitively believes carbon pricing is the wrong way txjmtzywo address climate change.
But he says given that the federal Liberals have a law requiring all provinces to have their own carbon price or use the federal program, it would be better to at least use the plan that gives money back to most consumers.
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New Brunswickers received the federal rebates for the first year of the carbon price in 2019 but that rebate disappeared when the province decided to introduce its own program in 2020.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says it’s "refreshing" that a Conservative MP is finally admitting the federal carbon price does give money back to families.
Carbon pricing has been a political football in Canada for years and rhetoric around it is heating up as the Conservatives launch a new leadership race and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has pushed gas prices to record levels.
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Conservative MP John Williamson rises uring Question Period in the House of Commons Tuesday April 13, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
