Premier Stephen McNeil says it’s not a tax.
McNeil says the recent agreement between the province and the federal government will introduce carbon pricing to Nova Scotia in the form of a cap and trade system.
He says he supported this means of carbon pricing to keep a tax off things like home heating fuel and gasoline.
The premier says Nova Scotians shouldn’t see any dent in their bank account because of this agreement.
“We shouldn’t see a change. I believe Nova Scotians get hit in the pocketbook with the high electricity rates – continuing to climb over the last seven, eight years. We did not want to see that. That’s why we fought very hard to make sure they recognized the work that we did.”
McNeil says the province has already met the greenhouse gas reduction targets set by the federal government and will be even futher ahead by 2030.
“Have the federal government recognize the great work that had already taken place by Nova Scotians. We’ve reduced our emissions by 30% below 2005 levels currently, today and in 2030- which is the target date, we will be almost 50% below 2005 targets.”
He says because we are below emission targets, Nova Scotia will have credits which can be applied to other forms of energy like gas and home heating oil.
@StephenMcNeil says energy nova scotia will help low income families to meet energy targets #nspoli #nsccnews #@NSCCWaterfront pic.twitter.com/pdQSd5uDhl
— CKBW Radio (@ckbwradio) November 21, 2016
