Conservative leadership candidates jockey for position on the carbon tax

As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government prepares to hike the federal carbon tax another ten dollars per tonne of emissions on Friday, the leading Conservative leadership candidates all agree on one thing — it's the wrong move.

But that's where their consensus ends. Questions about what Canada should do with carbon pricing, financial offsets to consumers and the broader fight against climate change are still very much up for debate among Conservative leadership candidates. In many cases, the candidates' master plans are still being written.

And as cost-of-living issues clash with Canadians' anxiety about climate change, those plans could help decide who has the best shot at winning over both Conservatives and the electorate.

Pierre Poilievre has been shouting his answer to the carbon tax question from the rooftops. On Thursday night, he's holding an event in Ottawa he's calling the "Axe the Carbon Tax" rally.

And he's taken this polarizing issue a step further than his opponents. Instead of simply attacking the Liberals, Poilievre has taken to calling the policy the "Trudeau-Charest-Brown" carbon tax.

While he was premier of Quebec, leadership candidate Jean Charest brought in a cap-and-trade carbon pricing system that effectively put a price on carbon pollution. Patrick Brown, another of Poilievre's opponents, called for a price on carbon while leading the Ontario Progressive Conservatives.

Both Brown and Charest have said they oppose the upcoming federal hike.

The federal Liberals first introduced a national price on carbon in 2018. The federal policy allows provinces and territories to design their own carbon pricing systems, but imposes the carbon tax in jurisdictions that do not introduce carbon pricing.

On Apr 1, 2022, the tax will rise to $50 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions. It's slated to rise to $170 a tonne by 2030.

Canadians under the federal carbon pricing regime receive benefit payments to compensate for higher prices. Starting in July 2022, Canadians will receive the Climate Action Incentive Payment automatically every three months.

Poilievre doesn't simply want to stop the latest hike — he wants to kill the tax altogether. At a news conference at a Saskatchewan tractor manufacturer in early March, he said there are "countless" ways to combat climate change without carbon pricing.

Thousands of economists, including Nobel prize winners, have argued that a carbon tax is the most effective means of quickly reducing emissions.

In lieu of a tax, Poilievre has said he'd put in place clear targets for emissions reductions and let provinces decide how to get there.

Poilievre also has talked about the virtues of carbon-capture and storage technologies and small modular nuclear reactors. He's also proposing a ban on oil imports from "dictatorships" that don't meet Canada's environmental or ethical standards.