Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Brian Pallister are discussing how to better relations between Ottawa and Manitoba. 

January 20, was the second day of a three-day federal cabinet retreat, held in Winnipeg and included a meeting between the Prime Minister and Manitoba's premier. The choice of location is a way to reach out to the Prairie provinces.

The Liberals were shut out of Alberta and Saskatchewan and lost three of seven seats in Manitoba in last October's federal election.

Pallister has said he's willing to act as a bridge between the federal government and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Saskatchewan's Scott Moe, who blame federal environmental policies for gutting their provinces' energy industries.

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister is warning Ottawa it will have to show some flexibility if it wants him to continue helping build bridges to Alberta and Saskatchewan. Other topics of discussion included the carbon tax.

 

Carbon Tax developments

After his meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Pallister commented that Manitoba will include a carbon price of some type in a new green plan aimed at exempting the province from the federal carbon tax.

His initial flat carbon tax was rejected by the federal government, which has called for escalating prices.

Pallister suggests he still wants a flat tax and repeated his demands that Ottawa must give Manitoba credit for steps it's already taken to reduce carbon emissions, such as investing in clean hydroelectricity. 

Prime Minister Trudeau says in a tweet following the meeting: "We had a good meeting focused on addressing some of the issues that matter most to people in Manitoba ... we're going to keep working together for Manitobans."