The Premier for Manitoba has declared that the province will be taking the federal government to court to challenge carbon tax.

“We’re going to court, sadly, to challenge the Ottawa carbon tax, stated Brian Pallister in an address at the legislature Wednesday afternoon, “because Ottawa cannot impose a carbon tax on a province that has a credible greenhouse gas reduction plan of its own, and we do.”

Pallister feels each province should be allowed to develop its own plan rather than relying on a blanket policy to work for the whole country. At the same time, he notes that Manitoba specifically has a strong case to make.

According to Pallister, the federal government has already made carbon tax exceptions to other provinces who have merely promised to implement solutions Manitoba has already put in place.

“They recognize we have the best green plan they have ever read,” comments Pallister. “yet they won’t respect our plan.” The province has already developed a 67-page draft carbon plan by consulting thousands of Manitobans. He asserts that this well-researched document should supersede the federal ruling.

Pallister also feels the Ottawa-imposed tax is unfair considering the billions of dollars Manitoba is investing in their own green solutions. He believes Manitoba could come up with an emissions reduction strategy that would yield results exceeding what the new carbon tax will accomplish.

“The federal government seems to want to fight in the issue when we should all be working together to make this a greener world for our kids and grandkids.”

Pallister fully agrees that something should be done about carbon emissions in every province, but insists that Manitoba could better handle the issue alone "without Ottawa as an involved intruder".