Nova Scotia’s environment minister is not ruling out carbon taxing as a way to reduce the province’s environmental footprint.
“As far as I’m concerned, everything’s on the table at this point,” Mark Parent said yesterday.
B.C. was the first Canadian province to announce carbon taxing which comes into effect this summer. Quebec introduced a form of carbon tax that pays companies for use of green technologies, and Manitoba has a tax on coal.
At the end of May, it was reported that Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty was looking at a cap-and-trade system for the province in place of carbon taxing.
But Nova Scotia’s government has yet to make any hard and fast decisions about putting a price on carbon in hopes of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The energy and environment departments are currently working on a climate change action plan and renewed energy strategy, which are expected to be complete by fall.
The goal of the plan is to see a 10 per cent reduction in the province’s greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by the year 2020.
Parent has said in the past the province faces a huge challenge to meet this goal because of its reliance on coal for electricity.
But he said the government will come forward with the best plan for Nova Scotia in September.
