In his very first act as prime minister, Mark Carney did what critics had long demanded — he axed the federal carbon tax. Yet while Carney was the one who dealt the final blow, there were many who aided and abetted in its death.

Since it was first proposed nearly a decade ago, the Liberal government’s keystone climate policy, the consumer carbon tax, became the target of both legal and political attacks. Nevertheless, these attacks were held at bay thanks in part to the 2021 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the constitutionality of carbon pricing and the Liberals’ success in maintaining power.

The axing of the consumer carbon tax marks a major turning point in Canadian climate policy. It shifts the discussion from the effects of the fuel charge on household budgets to how to best compel large industrial emitters to reduce their climate impact in a swiftly evolving global trade context.

Read more: The carbon tax needs fixing, not axing — Canada needs a progressive carbon tax

The Liberals now propose instead a system of financial incentives for household-level purchases, while expanding the existing industrial pricing mechanism and potentially applying a carbon adjustment levy on imports from countries with lax environmental standards.

The Conservatives, on the other hand, are vowing to do away with the industrial carbon pricing system, promoting clean tech innovation and manufacturing through financial incentives at the producer level, and offering greater........

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