Jean Charest commits to carbon tax as Conservative leader

Conservative leadership candidate Jean Charest expressed his support for a price on carbon during a CTV interview Saturday.

"I support a policy that is going to bring to the table, Alberta, the provinces and the oil and gas industry so that we can develop policies that we can actually implement," Charest said.

"And it'll include a price on carbon, but it will not discriminate against rural Canadians. It won't be a wealth transfer tax. It will be a policy that is smart, intelligent, that allows us to develop carbon sequestration to develop hydrogen, whether green or blue or small modular reactors and biofuels and hydro. That's the smart thing that Conservatives can do."

As the Liberal Premier of Quebec, Charest supported a carbon tax. This position has been criticized by Pierre Poilievre, who is also running to be Conservative leader and is staunchly against any form of a carbon tax.

In an exclusive interview with The Post Millennial, Poilievre repeated his opposition to the carbon tax and committed to not bringing in any other type of carbon tax scheme.

Charest's first week of campaigning has already drawn criticism due to him openly saying he is "proud" to have worked for Huawei, a Chinese state-controlled telecommunications company.

"Let's start with Huawei and you know what we did and Huawei, I'm very proud of what we did in helping to sort out the situation of Miss Meng Wanzhou," Charest told reporters at his launch last week.

Jean Charest is running for Conservative leader alongside MP Pierre Poilievre, Leslyn Lewis, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and MPP Roman Baber.