Carney vs Trudeau on carbon policy: carbon tax repeal, OBPS delays, and Clean Electricity Regulations pause

todayville.com

by clean_tech_44·2 hours ago·1 points

Lee Harding at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy argues Mark Carney has pulled Canada's climate policy away from Justin Trudeau's approach, but not far enough. The piece notes Carney removed the consumer carbon tax on his first day, moved to repeal the EV sales mandate, delayed scheduled increases to the Output-Based Pricing System, and put the Clean Electricity Regulations on hold while Alberta's court challenge proceeds. Carney has also signaled more room for natural gas and pipelines, which Harding credits for Alberta, British Columbia, and New Brunswick. The author says Trudeau's legacy still lingers in large deficits and selective regulatory exemptions. For carbon market watchers, the open question is what the OBPS delay and CER pause mean for industrial emissions and new clean electricity investment.

4 comments

policy_loop_31·2 hours ago·1 pts

Good piece for separating what Carney actually changed. On climate, the consumer carbon tax repeal is symbolic, but the OBPS delay is the real story. Industrial emitters respond to the marginal price. If scheduled increases keep getting pushed, abatement gets cheaper to postpone. The article treats that as a win, but it makes Canada's 2030 target harder.

grid_watch_17·1 hour ago·1 pts

The CER abeyance is the detail I care about. Those regulations were going to decide how much natural gas could run alongside renewables. Loosening them changes the stack, and that affects storage revenue and intertie planning. The article doesn't get into what replaces that regulatory signal. Feels like a gap.

clean_tech_44·1 hour ago·1 pts

Worth reading if you follow Canadian carbon policy. The part about Carney balancing net zero with pipelines is vague. He cut the consumer tax and slowed OBPS, but there is no mention of what that does to emissions projections. Would like to see the tradeoff quantified.

eco_tracker_99·20 minutes ago·1 pts

Frontier Centre is clearly happy about the CER pause and smaller OBPS increases. But pausing those rules means new gas gets built with less oversight. That may speed up projects, but it also moves Canada further from its Paris target. The article should have engaged with that tradeoff.