The Yukon Party pilloried territorial Liberal Leader Sandy Silver Monday, saying in a statement that he “won’t stand up for Yukoners” and negotiate with the federal Liberals on their plan to impose a price on carbon across Canada.

“Silver’s abdication of leadership on the issue follows comments from the federal government that they want to impose a carbon tax in the North – despite opposition from all three territorial governments,” reads a Yukon Party news release issued Monday afternoon.

The Yukon Party’s rebuke flows from an interview Silver had given to CBC radio earlier in the day.

The Klondike MLA said the territory must accept that a carbon tax is coming, and no matter who wins the election, that government will have to figure out how best to implement it when it arrives.

“Imagine if the GST was coming in this year and the premier said, ‘no, we don’t want to pay it because it’s going to make diapers more expensive,’ Silver told the radio network.

“It’s coming in,” he said.

“What the premier is doing is sticking his head in the sand and deciding not to even talk to anybody about this.”

The Globe and Mail reported Sunday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau intends to establish a minimum price on carbon nationally ahead of the United Nations summit on climate change in Marrakech, Morocco in November.

Silver was not available this morning to respond to the Yukon Party’s statement.

But in an interview with the Star last week, the Liberal leader confirmed that his party is “not afraid” of carbon pricing.

“(The Yukon Party is) saying no to carbon pricing, as if this something they can say no to.”

Silver said he wants to speak to Environment Minister Catherine McKenna about how the government can keep carbon tax revenues generated by Yukoners inside the Yukon.

“We want to be on the right side of history when it comes to a low carbon economy,” he said.

The Harper government committed in May 2015 to bring down greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels, by the year 2030.

According to The Globe and Mail report, McKenna, has no plan yet to set a more ambitious goal, but pricing carbon will be how Canada hits its 2015 target.

Indeed, a minimum price on carbon will be set for any province or territory that doesn’t devise its own carbon pricing scheme, either by way of a tax, or a cap-and-trade system, she said.

What exactly that minimum national price will be has yet to be seen.

Ultimately, as an April 2016 report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer points out, the impact of a national carbon tax will depend greatly on how local governments decide to use the resulting revenues.

Despite a carbon tax seeming inevitable at this point, Pasloski remains firm in his opposition to the levy.

“My job as premier is to stand up for Yukoners. It’s expensive to live in the North already. A tax on carbon would make everything cost more money,” he told the Star this morning.

The premier said he plans to reduce emissions by retrofitting buildings and homes to make them more energy-efficient, as the government did with its main administrative building in Whitehorse.

That major renovation is projected to save the government $250,000 a year in energy costs and reduce emissions by 425 tonnes of carbon annually, the premier said in a July 29 letter posted on the Yukon Party’s website.

Already, Pasloski said, most of the territory’s electricity comes from hydro power.

“If it’s actually about making a difference in Yukon, if the federal government could partner with us to make buildings more energy-efficient, they will use less fuel to heat them, they will emit less greenhouse gases, and what we’ll also do is we’ll put lots of people to work,” Pasloski told the Star.

“It’s the exact opposite of what you’re seeing with a carbon tax.”

Of course, Yukon residents would have to contribute something to the cost of upgrading their homes and workplaces.

The investment, Pasloski assures Yukoners, would be worth the returns families and businesses would see with a future of lower heating bills.

As for the carbon coming from cars and trucks, which are another major source of emissions in the territory, the premier said the government is doing its part and adding more energy-efficient vehicles to its fleet.

“You know what? We live in the North, our communities are separated by vast distances; as I said, there are no options.”

Asked what he would do with the revenues from a carbon tax, should one be imposed on the territory by the federal government (would he ensure those dollars remain in the Yukon?), Pasloski replied simply:

“We are 100 per cent opposed to a tax on carbon.”