Carbon tax testimony: Premiers invited to Conservative-chaired committee

The Conservative chair of a House of Commons committee has invited Canada's premiers to come testify about their carbon tax concerns.

On Tuesday, the premiers of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Alberta made public letters they'd sent to the House Finance Committee, asking to appear to talk about the upcoming April 1 carbon price increase.

According to the Official Opposition, the Liberal chair of the House Finance Committee declined to recall that panel of MPs on an urgent basis to accommodate these provincial leaders' requests to come talk, before the tax increase comes into effect next Monday.

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The House of Commons is currently on a two-week constituency break but committees can still meet if there's enough interest.

In a statement, Conservative MP and chair of the Conservative-led Government Operations and Estimates Committee Kelly McCauley said he extended an invitation to these premiers to come discuss the matter, before the same committee that is currently examining the ArriveCan controversy as well as the Main Estimates.

"Premiers should be welcomed before parliamentary committees and given the opportunity to testify, especially on matters of national importance," McCauley said. 

CTV News reached out to the House Finance Committee and the MP who leads it for comment. In an email, the committee clerk said the chair had not instructed him to prepare a meeting. 

The mandate of the Government Operations and Estimates Committee is to focus on the "effectiveness and proper functioning of government operations," as well as federal spending plans.  

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs said in an interview on CTV News Channel's Power Play with Vassy Kapelos that he is scheduled to testify on Wednesday afternoon, while a revised committee meeting notice indicates Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe will appear virtually at 11 a.m. ET.

It remains to be seen when Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith would appear before MPs.

He said as he watches the "ramping up" of resistance to the federal price on pollution and rebate plan, he thinks it's important he continue to use his voice to speak out against the program.

"I'd like to see the carbon tax gone because I don't think it's the answer to us improving our overall emissions and reducing them," he said.

In a widely signed open letter issued Tuesday, economists from across the country sought to counter the Conservative-led opposition arguments against the carbon tax, pointing out that "since federal carbon pricing took effect in 2019, Canada's GHG emissions have fallen by almost 8 percent."

Higgs said that figure is "such a small component, for such large pain."

The economists also cited a Bank of Canada calculation that carbon pricing has caused less than one-20th of Canada's inflation in the past two years.

The current $65-per-tonne carbon price is set to increase to $80 per tonne on April 1, coinciding with an increase to the amount households will be reimbursed.

The impending hike has forced the issue to the political centre stage in recent months, with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre upping the pressure his party is putting on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to "axe the tax."

Recently defending his decision to maintain the pollution pricing policy and the upcoming increase, Trudeau panned the "political misinformation and disinformation" around the marquee Liberal climate change plan, and suggested it's an easy solution for "short-term thinker politicians" to call for it to end. 

With files from CTV News' Chief Political Correspondent Vassy Kapelos