Prime minister faces opposition to federal emissions plan during visit to Halifax

Prime Minster Justin Trudeau stood firm on the federal carbon tax during a visit to Halifax on Tuesday.

“For now, the federal plan that puts more money in the pockets of Canadians and fights climate change extremely efficiently is what’s going to be in place,” Trudeau says.

Also standing firm are those who oppose the plan. A group interrupted traffic at the Nova Scotia, New Brunswick border yesterday to protest the tax.

There's additional pushback from Premier Tim Houston too. At the encouragement of the federal government, the province has submitted another counter proposal to the feds' plan.

“If the federal government takes this plan seriously and I sure hope they do, then they will see and it will show that we can meet federal emission requirements without a carbon tax,” Houston says.

The premier is confident his plan will exceed federal guidelines for reducing carbon emissions.

“We’ve updated our plan that was there before. It’s called 'still better than a carbon tax’ because it is still better than a carbon tax,” says Houston.

“The plan is comprehensive, it really is. It will show that we can do more to address climate change than the carbon tax will.”

Trudeau says he hasn't seen the proposal, but admits if it's anything like the previous one, it won't be good enough.

“I don’t know the details on this particular plan, but I do know in conversations in the past with the Nova Scotia government that thought about bringing forward its own plan, its plans in the past did not reach the federal level.”

Nova Scotia Liberal MP, Kody Blois, says the province needs to change its approach if it's hoping to find common ground on carbon.

“The premier has been very focused on the consumer levy. If he wants to do something different there, he can work with the other premieres across the country to develop an alternative pricing strategy that does not have a consumer levy, the same way that the federal backstop does.”

Both the province and the feds to say they’re willing to work with one another to find a carbon proposal that is acceptable for everyone.

Premier Houston is hoping to hear from the federal government about his proposal sometime this week.

Meanwhile, the second round of carbon rebate cheques are set to go out April 15.

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.