By Glynn Brothen

Carbon tax

Carbon tax fight: Canada makes its case at Court of Appeal

Feb 14, 2019 | 4:50 PM

Arguing for its case, but also standing up to a lot of questions from the bench – the lawyer for the Government of Canada laid out the rationale for the federal carbon tax on Thursday morning.

She spent a lot of time talking about the threat of climate change, arguing that it’s a big enough problem – both in severity and scope – that the federal government needs to take action.

Sharlene Telles-Langdon talked about specific effects Canada could feel from climate change, including the thawing of permafrost in the north which could create problems for northern communities.

She also discussed the idea that the federal government needs to act because emissions don’t stay within provincial borders and one province can’t regulate another. So if one province doesn’t do anything about emissions it could have a negative effect on another which is taking steps to reduce emissions.

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Telles-Langdon got quite a few questions from the justices during her argument. One justice challenged her and in one case presented a “what if” scenario, trying to determine where the edges are of these proposed federal regulations.

The schedule for the rest of the day had nine intervenors down to speak, all of which were supporting a carbon tax.

They include the Province of B.C., the Canadian Public Health Association, and the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation – which is arguing that not doing something about climate change would be a violation of treaty rights.

Lawyers for the Saskatchewan government are set to bat clean-up at the end of the day, having reserved a half hour to address the arguments of the other intervenors.