Alberta Takes Ottawa to Court Over Home Heating Carbon Tax Exemption

The Alberta government is suing Ottawa for what it calls a “double standard” in its carbon tax exemption for heating oil, saying it favours eastern provinces while excluding Canadians in areas like Alberta and Saskatchewan who rely on other forms of home heating.
The province says the federal government’s tax exemption on heating oil has created a “double standard” that is making Albertans pay taxes to stay warm during the winter.
Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery says it took roughly a year for the province to assemble its legal argument, and he expects it to take another year to work its way through court.
While Smith described the carbon levy as increasingly contributing to the financial pain of Albertans, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said it puts money back into the pockets of Canadians in the form of rebates.
The Alberta government is asking the federal court to rule the exemption “unconstitutional and unlawful.” They argue that it undermines the fairness to all provinces implied by the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, a federal law that sets minimum national standards for carbon pricing.