Canada Details Federal Carbon Pricing System In Face Of Increasing Opposition

On October 23, 2018, the Government of Canada announced additional details regarding the federal carbon pricing system and published draft regulations amending the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (Act). A federal fuel charge of C$20 per tonne of carbon emissions will come into effect in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan in April 2019 and in Yukon and Nunavut in July 2019. A separate carbon pricing system for industrial emitters will also come into effect in January 2019. While it was initially meant as a backup plan for the few jurisdictions that did not implement their own carbon pricing mechanisms, once in force, the federal carbon pricing system will apply to almost half of the Canadian population. Despite the recent federal announcement, the Act faces an increasingly uncertain future with legal challenges working their way through the courts in Saskatchewan and Ontario, and increasing opposition in Alberta, Manitoba and New Brunswick. With a