Why Blaine Higgs's 'big picture' emissions plan faces long odds
CBC
Premier Blaine Higgs says he wants New Brunswickers and Canadians to look at "the big picture" in the fight over the federal carbon tax.
But the picture he paints is clouded.
Higgs's global vision, articulated in several recent national media interviews, is a response to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's challenge to premiers who oppose the tax.
"Any province that wants to put forward a similarly robust way to fight climate change, but do it in a way that works for them, is more than welcome to do so," he said in March.
Higgs was ready with his pitch.
"We're not looking at the big picture in this," Higgs told CBC Radio's Cross Country Checkup.
"While we force a higher cost of living on all of our citizens here, we have a unique opportunity in Canada that we've always had — a rich nation that can offset energy consumption in the world."
Extracting natural gas in New Brunswick and shipping it to Europe, the premier argued, would allow the shutdown of heavy-emitting coal burning plants there.
Global emissions would be reduced even more and, as a bonus, New Brunswick would experience "an economic impact like we have never seen in the province before," he added.
But the Higgs vision faces many obstacles and long odds.
"I think that the premier is dreaming in technicolour," said Fredericton Liberal MP Jenica Atwin.
"Where is the evidence to suggest that this pie-in-the-sky idea that he's put forward, with no real detail, I'll add, is going to help us reach our climate goal?" Atwin said.
In response to a request from CBC News, Higgs provided a detailed three-page explanation full of statistics.
Natural gas is a fossil fuel but it is cleaner than coal, meaning it emits less of the carbon dioxide that is warming the climate and that is linked to extreme weather.
