OTTAWA—The environment plan the Conservative party claims will give Canada its “best chance” of meeting the country’s climate targets will actually cost more and achieve less than the policies of the Liberal government, according to a new analysis. The report released Thursday was conducted by economists from EnviroEconomics and Canadians for Clean Prosperity to assess the Conservatives’ environment plan that the party says will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower costs. The report comes to the opposite conclusion. It outlines how the Conservative measures for heavy emitters, green technology, home retrofits and more will not outweigh the impact of removing Liberal policies like the national minimum carbon price and clean fuel standards. The Conservative plan would increase Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions by 9.1 megatonnes in 2022, and make it harder to hit the country’s commitment for reductions under the Paris Agreement to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, the report says. Environment Canada projections say the country will miss that target by 79 megatonnes under current and incoming Liberal government policies. But Thursday’s report says that, under the Conservative plan, that gap would grow to 109 megatonnes. It would also cost the government and households $3.8 billion more than the current suite of government policies, with new regulations and subsidies that replace the federal carbon price and tax rebates in provinces where it was imposed, the report says. This would translate to increased annual costs of $295 per household in provinces with the federal carbon price, including Ontario, and $187 per household where the federal price does not apply. “It’s kind of a unique plan, right? We have more emissions and it’s going to cost more than the current forecast,” said Dave Sawyer, an economist with EnviroEconomics and one of the authors of the report. “Canada’s g ...
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