N.B. government accused of looking for 'way out' of election promise, delaying removal of carbon adjuster

New Brunswick’s official Opposition leader is accusing the governing Liberals of trying to find “a way out” of a key election pledge to remove the carbon adjuster cost on fuel prices.

The government introduced legislation on Nov. 20, signalling its intent to remove the cost (about four cents per litre) by the end of 2024.

Instead, the bill’s second reading is now on hold with the legislation being sent to the legislature’s law amendments committee for review.

While carbon fuel regulations are enforced by the federal government, the former Progressive Conservative government under Blaine Higgs changed legislation in December 2022 to pass the extra cost to consumers. The former PC government said small family-owned gas stations were at risk of closing without the legislation.

The Liberals often referred to the cost as “the Higgs tax” during this fall’s election campaign, pledging to remove it within the first 100 days of a Susan Holt mandate.

Energy Minister René Legacy said the government’s decision to delay the cost’s removal was due to concerns about small gas stations closing.

“I think if there’s potential to create chaos, we have a duty to make sure that we look at our decisions,” said Legacy on Tuesday. “In this case, I think there was a real problem especially in northern New Brunswick, that some small retailers were going to close, and some communities were going to have a hard time getting fuel.”

The PC opposition said it wouldn’t support November’s throne speech (presented one day before the bill’s first reading), in part because there wasn’t enough information about the cost’s removal on small retailers. Legacy said he was aware of those concerns before introducing the legislation, but they were elevated by retailers after the election.

“They never thought we were going to present the bill that quickly,” said Legacy, “So I said, ‘Listen, that’s fair enough.’”

The PCs said the delay amounted to a broken election promise, suggesting the government was trying to ditch its campaign pledge.

“I’m not disagreeing with the government for them abandoning their promise,” said interim PC leader Glen Savoie. “I’m just giving them a hard time because they made the promise to begin with, when they didn’t know what they were doing. I would argue that as we go through this over time with this government, you’re going to see that’s a pretty common theme.”

On Nov. 21, Premier Susan Holt said she shared concerns about small gas stations closing. At that time, Holt said the government would be having discussions with the province’s Energy and Utilities Board and others “to see how they’re going to react to this and what choices they’ll make.”

Premier Holt and Minister Legacy have indicated support for possibly removing fuel price regulations altogether, both suggesting it’s unclear if set rates save drivers money.

Legacy said he hoped the law amendments committee review would be an opportunity to have a conversation about deregulation.

Savoie said the government was looking for “a way out” of removing the carbon adjuster themselves, through deregulation.

“Deregulation is going to leave us in a situation where the cost of a carbon adjuster is just going to be hidden and passed down to the consumer anyway,” said Savoie.

Green Party Leader David Coon, who has often accused the PCs of introducing the carbon adjustor to benefit large oil companies, said deregulation altogether wasn’t a direction the Liberals should take.

“That will spell the death knell for a lot of independent gas retailers in this province,” said Coon. “They will not be able to compete against the big guys who can underprice them, basically, and put them out of business.”

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