PCs call Ottawa’s school-bucks bluff

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This article was published 22/07/2019 (2654 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba PCs are calling Ottawa’s bluff over carbon-tax funding for school retrofits, as the Liberals backtrack on whether they need the province’s help to dole out the cash.

The $5 million might now go to Manitoba universities, hospitals and towns.

A month ago, the federal Liberals announced they’d set aside part of the revenues from the carbon tax imposed on four provinces for school retrofits such as solar panels or insulation upgrades.

The Liberals invited those provinces to help decide which school board projects they’ll fund. The Trudeau government gave a July 19 ultimatum to accept the arrangement, saying it would sidestep the province if need be.

“We’ve put a plan in place to go right to school boards,” MP Sean Fraser, parliamentary secretary for Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, said in a July 9 interview. “We’re going to find a way.”

Last week, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister rebuffed the idea, calling it a “hoax” and writing to Ottawa, saying Environment Canada can go ahead and give the money to school boards themselves.

Late Friday, McKenna’s office changed course.

“Unfortunately, we have confirmed that funding for energy-saving projects in Manitoba schools does have to flow through the provincial government,” communications adviser Bronwen Jervis wrote.

When asked whether Fraser had the wrong information, where the money will go now and under what law or policy Ottawa can’t give money to a school board, Environment Canada took three days to issue a response that did not address most of those questions.

“Unfortunately, there appears to be no precedent of the federal government providing funding to school boards without co-ordinating with the provincial government,” Jervis wrote Monday.

“In the coming weeks, we will be releasing details of how the money will be redirected to help Manitoba’s municipalities, universities or hospitals fight climate change and save money on energy efficiency.”

By law, all revenue collected by the carbon-tax levy must be remitted to Manitoba. The Liberals are sending 90 per cent back in tax rebates, with the rest going to green projects within the province.

Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires said the Liberals’ backtracking casts doubt on their entire carbon levy.

“This Ottawa confusion reinforces what we’ve said from the outset — that this is a rushed, pre-election stunt,” Squires wrote Monday.

“Instead of hastily dropping these attempted distractions, Ottawa should recognize the massive investments Manitobans have already made in clean, green energy sources,” she said, repeating her government’s previous talking points on exporting hydro and building its own green schools.

The Liberals have painted the Manitoba government as impeding young people from participating in climate-change mitigation efforts, while Pallister has accused the Liberals of focusing on scoring political points over reducing emissions.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

Minister Squires' response to Ottawa's carbon-tax school retrofit fund