EDMONTON – Alberta’s consumer carbon tax is now officially gone.
Members of the legislature voted last night to pass the bill that repeals the tax, and it was signed into law by Lt.-Gov. Lois Mitchell.
The province stopped charging the tax last week, and the federal government announced it will soon replace the fee with its own carbon levy.
The provincial carbon tax was implemented by the former NDP government, adding a surcharge to gasoline at the pumps and on fossil-fuelled home heating.
United Conservative Premier Jason Kenney won the April election on a promise to kill it, saying the tax hasn’t helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions and took money out of the pockets of working families.
Kenney’s government will continue with a tax on large industrial greenhouse gas emitters, and has promised to challenge the constitutionality of the federal carbon tax in court if Ottawa imposes it.