No commitment to keep 2012 emissions deal in Nova Scotia

The federal government made no commitment Tuesday to maintain an equivalency agreement signed in 2012 by the Harper Conservative government that mandated pollution reduction targets.

"Right now, we have different systems out there," federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told reporters Tuesday in Halifax.

"We have B.C. and Alberta that have a carbon tax and we have Ontario and Quebec that have a cap and trade system ...  We need a national price [on carbon] ... There needs to be comparability. I hear this from businesses that they need to be able to build into their assumptions what the price is going to be and they'll figure out how to innovate."

Nova Scotia wants the agreement to stand.

The deal exempted Nova Scotia from federal timelines to close coal-­fired electricity plants, provided the province committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent by 2020, with a cap of 7.5 million tonnes.

Flexibility key

The key, McKenna said, is having the flexibility for provinces and territories to determine how they want to use the revenues and to ensure Canadian businesses are not disadvantaged and forced to move elsewhere.

This week's talks, the minister said, are hinged on the Atlantic growth strategy that the federal and four provincial governments announced a month ago.

"My colleagues and I agreed on pursuing a strategy to provide clean electricity in the Atlantic region for years to come," McKenna said.

"As part of the Atlantic growth strategy, this will ultimately create good, clean jobs and drive innovation in the transition to a low-­carbon economy. It will grow the number of skilled workers in Atlantic Canada. The bigger goal, of course, is a national one. As Atlantic Canada improves its capacity to address climate change, it is part of Canada's action as a nation to position Canada as a leader in the global clean­-growth economy."

Province wants 2012 agreement

Nova Scotia's Environment Minister Margaret Miller said Nova Scotians have already done a good job embracing a green economy.

"Whether it's been recycling in low carbon and Nova Scotia Power, of course, electricity is our biggest greenhouse gas emitter, our biggest sector and we've had caps on the electricity sector for a long while and we let the electricity sector determine how those reductions are met," Miller said.

Nova Scotia is already showing a 17 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, which is well above national figures, Miller said.

The province also expects to have 40 per cent of all its electricity generated from renewable sources by 2020 when the Muskrat Falls hydro project in Labrador comes online.