Carbon tax hampering agri-food investment in southern Alberta, says Hunter

By Trevor Busch
Taber Times
editor@tabertimes.com

With the fall session of the legislature now underway, Taber-Warner MLA Grant Hunter isn’t expecting a smooth ride as the UCP wrestles with the opposition in Edmonton. 

“It’s going to be a rocky road, all about what we’re bringing forward, and it’s going to be tough but it’s the right thing to do. The Premier is committed to it, and so is caucus and cabinet,” said Hunter, who is prepared to defend his government’s position. “As those pieces of legislation are tabled I look forward to this conversation. I think that in my riding for sure, we’d have the vast majority of my riding residents that would be in support.” 

Shifting to prospects for enhanced value-added investment along the Highway 3 agri-food corridor, Hunter believes further investment will hinge on the elimination of the federal carbon tax. 

“We need to get to some common sense in some of these issues. And I think that this is striking that common sense balance, so there’s going to be some heavy lifting in terms of the agri-food processing corridor. We’ve got lots and lots of interest. Some of the concern that I’m hearing from these companies and multinational companies, is they’re concerned about the carbon tax. They look at us, and to the south of us in the United States, and there’s no carbon tax. Why would we go up there when you know it’s just going to go up so high? That doesn’t make sense for us. So we need to have a federal election on carbon tax, and I think if we can do that, I don’t think that Trudeau will win that election. It doesn’t make sense. You have China and the United States that aren’t doing it, these big countries that aren’t doing it. It puts us at such a disadvantage.”

Dropping the tax will go a long way to improving investment along Highway 3, argues Hunter.

“So if we can do that, then I can start landing some of these companies to come in and set up in this corridor.”