Here's where the provinces stand on carbon prices

Prime Minister Justin Trudeauannounced Monday the federal government will set a national"floor price" on carbon that all provinces must levy on emissions, a move that will force the nineprovinces and territories that do not already have a pricing mechanism to act.

Trudeausaid pricingshould start at a minimum of $10 pertonneof carbon dioxideemissionsin 2018, rising by $10 each year to $50 atonneby 2022.

Roughly 85 per cent of Canadians already live in a jurisdiction that has a price on greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions programs inB.C.and Quebec are already up and running, with Alberta and Ontariosoon to follow in January 2017.

Others must now implement either a carbon price or a cap-and-trade system in their jurisdiction,with the express purpose of reducing emissions to help Canada meet reductiontargets set outin the Paris climate agreement.

• Justin Trudeau gives provinces 2 years to adopt carbon price plan
• 'No finger-pointing': Environment ministers meet to craft national carbon pricing plan
• ANALYSIS |On climate change, the government is already calculating the price of inaction

Here is a round-up of existing carbon pricing plans:

Alberta

Premier Rachel Notleyannounced her province's climateplan last November, which includes an economy-widecarbon tax of $20 per tonne that kicks in on Jan. 1, 2017. That price will rise to $30 per tonne on Jan. 1, 2018. The plan also includes a hard cap 100 megatonneson GHG emissions from the province's oilsands.

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The tax is expected to fetch roughly $3 billion in new revenues, with that money earmarked for investment ingreen initiatives such as building retrofits, investments inlarge scale renewable energy projectsandpublic transportation.

The tax is not revenue-neutral like other jurisdictions, but Alberta has promised to cut small business taxes from threeper cent to twoper cent to offset costs associated with the new levy.

B.C.

The B.C. Liberal Party implemented Canada's first carbon levy in 2008, when it introduced a tax on all fuel use and carbon emissions. The launch price was$10 a tonnebut it has since risen to $30.

• B.C. Premier Christy Clark's climate change plan does not raise carbon tax

The tax is "revenue neutral," meaning there have been cuts to other personal taxes based on the amount of money collected by the carbon levy.

Premier Christy Clark has said she will raise the carbon tax when other provinces act, something she reiterated last week after the federal governmentgave the green lightto the Pacific NorthWest LNG project.

"We want to see the rest of the country catch-up, when we're all at the same level, let's all move up together at a reasonable and affordable price," she said in an interview with CBC News on Saturday. "We're going to remain a climate change leader in the country."

Ontario

Ontario is poised to launch its cap-and-trade system in the new year, a program that is far more complicated than a carbon tax because itrelies on a market-based system of carbon credits to ensure big polluters lower their emissions.

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Ontario will have aneconomy-wide cap of142 megatonnes per year in 2017, which will decline to 125 megatonnes per year by 2020. (Ontario is expected to emit146 megatonnes this year, according to provincial estimates.)The cap will drop each year to encourage lower emissions.

Businesses generating more than 25,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year will be considered a "capped emitter."

These businesseswill have tohave enough credits (also known as permits or allowances) to cover their emissions if they exceed the cap.

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If they do not have enough credits, then they will have to turn to the carbon trading market where they can buyfrom other companies that have some creditsto sell.

These credits are linked to everytonneof greenhouse gas they emit (or do not emit).

Moreover, all natural gas distributorswill be required to buy credits to cover the total GHG emissions fornatural gas consumed by residential andbusiness customers. The cost of these purchases will then be passed back to customers.

Ontario will also join forces with two other members of theWestern Climate InitiativeCalifornia and Quebec to create a larger carbon credit trading system.

The EcoFiscal Commission, a group of Canadian economists who study carbon pricing,estimatesOntario's plan will have an estimated equivalent price of $19.40 per tonne by 2020.

Quebec

Quebec has a cap-and-trade systemvery similar to Ontario, and its price will also be roughly $19.40 per tonne by 2020.

• Quebec cap-and-trade system in line with Ottawa's new plan, says Couillard

Other provinces

The newly-elected Progressive Conservative government in Manitoba has vowed todevelop its own "carbon pricing system" after public consultations. It is not yet clear what form that levy will take.

After Trudeau outlined the federal position, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister said that cap-and-trade was out, but that he's not definitive on a possible carbon tax.

"One-size-fits-all isn't going to work in this country and I look forward to further discussion with the federal government on this issue," he said Monday.

Newfoundland just recently implemented a dramatic increase to its gas tax, doubling the levy to 33 cents perlitre. This hike was not implemented to lower GHGs per se, but rather to recoup money from drivers to help the cash-strapped province pad its coffers. The implementation of a national carbon price will only add to the cost of gas, and other fuel sources in the province.

• N.L. Environment Minister Trimper walks out of meeting over carbon tax

Nova Scotia'sLiberal Premier Stephen McNeilhaslong argued that people in hisprovince already pay acarbon tax of sorts because it has transitioned quickly away from coal-fired power generation to renewable energy sources such as wind. Coal still accounts for 56 per cent of the province's energy mix, but that is a far cry from as early as2000 when it accounted for virtually all of the province's power supply.

• Nova Scotia walks out of national carbon pricing meeting after Trudeau ultimatum

Electricity prices in Nova Scotia have risen 62 per cent since 2005 as a result of this costly transition. (Its power rates are the highest in the country.)

However,Nova Scotia is also the only province that has met the federal government's target it has already reducedgreenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent of 2005 levels before the 2030 deadline.

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