PCs vow to get carbon tax off Manitoba Hydro bills if re-elected

The provincialProgressive Conservative party is pledging to fightthe federal government's carbon tax on the natural gas Manitobans use to heat their homes if re-elected this fall.

Manitoba PC Leader Heather Stefanson says she wants the federal tax off Manitoba Hydro bills, and will take Ottawa to court again if necessary.

"We don't have an option not to use a furnace when it's minus 40 or air conditioning when it's 30 above," Stefanson said at a news conference Friday.

"That's why a re-elected Progressive Conservative government will stop at nothing to eliminate a carbon tax on Manitoba Hydro."

The carbon tax is added on to gasoline, natural gas and other fossil fuels. The money collected is returned 90 per cent through personal income tax rebate cheques and 10 per cent via investments to help businesses and communities reduce their carbon footprint.

While the federal government's carbon charge doesn't apply to renewable energy sources such as hydroelectricity, it does apply to natural gas used by Manitoba Hydro customers to heat their homes.

Stefanson argued Manitobans deserve a break from the tax given that the province mostly relies on hydroelectric power.

"Manitoba is already green. That needs to be recognized by the federal government."

Stefanson saidthe tax on Hydro is costing ratepayers$114 milliona year.

The Manitoba government under Stefanson's predecessor, Brian Pallister, previously took the federal government to court over its carbon tax plan, and lost.

In 2021, a federal court judge rejected the province's argument that Ottawa should not have imposed an escalating minimum price on carbon because the Pallister government was developing its own emissions plan that could have been just as effective.

Adrien Sala, NDP's critic for Manitoba Hydro, said in a Friday statement that Stefanson is "repeating Brian Pallister's failed strategy."

The provincial election is set for Oct. 3.

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