‘The carbon tax didn’t stop forest fires’: Premier defends scrapping tax amid growing fires

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — Following a speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Calgary, the Premier of Alberta disputed what he feels is a belief that a carbon tax may lessen the impact of wildfires.

“The carbon tax didn’t stop forest fires,” said Premier Jason Kenney, after a reporter asked if the province is doing less to combat climate change with the scrapping of the carbon tax. “We’ve always had forest fires, we always will.”

Kenney suggested there may be a sentiment that the tax had an effect on these fires, but said there’s no evidence backing that.

“The reality is that they’ve had a carbon tax in British Columbia for ten years, it hasn’t made any difference to the pattern of forest fires there,” Kenney said.

The premier was also asked if it is fair to link climate change to these fires, which he somewhat supported and disputed at the same time.

“Obviously climate change can prolong the dry season and things like that, so that may play a factor. But it’s also true that we’ve always had — long before human activity, there were huge forest fires across North America,” he said. “Human activity in that sense, by stopping fires and communities living closer to those areas, is one of the reasons that we see more human contact with fires in the north.”

Kenney said there is an abundance of old, dry forest in northern Alberta, and those fuels are a major concern.

Since conservation efforts have been taken to preserve these forested areas, Kenney believes there has not been enough opportunity for these areas to burn and added that these fires are overdue.

But he does acknowledge climate change is a major concern, and his government will have a plan in the fall.

“The challenge of climate change is real and we need to take it seriously. We need to act, that’s what our government will be doing with our levy on major emitters, our technology and research fund to reduce carbon emissions,” said Kenney.

“Climate emissions are a global challenge, overwhelmingly the growth in emissions come from the third world — that’s where we need to share technology to reduce emissions. That’s exactly what our technology, innovation, energy and research fund will do.”

At which point Kenney abruptly ended the press conference and walked away.