Three Atlantic provinces will start seeing a carbon tax on gasoline, diesel and home heating fuel come July 2023, Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault announced Tuesday.
The proposed changes to the Environment Act would create a pricing system based on greenhouse gas output, Environment Minister Tim Halman told reporters, adding that the new plan would also include targets and performance standards to be set out in regulations.
The move inviting companies to explore for oil and gas also follows an announcement earlier this year that the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board was shifting its “primary focus” to renewable energy projects.
The desire to quickly rebuild after post-tropical storm Fiona is running up against challenges that existed before the hurricane-force winds left a trail of destruction in Nova Scotia: the rising cost of construction material and widespread skilled labour shortages.
"There's always lessons to be learned," the prime minister told reporters in Stanley Bridge, P.E.I., where a massive storm surge and hurricane-force winds upended buildings and tossed fishing boats onto the shore.
Justin Trudeau travelled Tuesday to Nova Scotia and P.E.I., where he pledged to find ways to build more resilient infrastructure after inspecting the extensive damage caused by post-tropical storm Fiona.
Residents of Atlantic Canada and eastern Quebec are coming to terms with the full scope of the damage left behind after post-tropical storm Fiona tore through the region over the weekend as one of the strongest storms Canada's East Coast has ever faced.