Saskatchewan’s environment minister, Scott Moe, returned to Regina Tuesday after walking out of meetings with his provincial counterparts in protest of the federal carbon tax announcement.
“At that point us meeting to come up with recommendations for our first ministers and prime minister seemed futile,” Moe said.
Moe said he was surprised when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the provinces would either have to adopt a minimum tax on carbon at $10 per tonne by 2018 or introduce a comparable cap and trade system. Trudeau added the minimum tax would increase to $50 per tonne in 2022.
“We need to have some discussions on where we go as a province, how we best represent the people of Saskatchewan moving forward,” Moe said, in regard to what he and the rest of cabinet will be doing in the coming days.
WATCH: Saskatchewan Environment Minister Scott Moe spoke to Global Regina’s provincial affairs reporter, David Baxter, about the Liberal carbon tax Tuesday evening, after landing at Regina International Airport. Moe was coming back from climate meetings in Montreal.
Get breaking National news
On Monday, Moe said this price on carbon would result in an additional $2.5 billion in taxes for the province.
Regina Wascana MP Ralph Goodale said Tuesday that any money collected in Saskatchewan would remain in the province.
“The province would be entirely in control of what is done with that revenue. It could be entirely returned to the people of Saskatchewan through tax reductions,” Goodale explained.
- Ottawa will cut back again on international students with 2025 cap
- Liberals ‘are ready’ for a non-confidence vote, MPs say as test looms
- No, a ‘picture of a bunny’ is not proof of Indigeneity: federal government
- Conservatives start process to find Boissonnault’s business partner in contempt of Parliament
READ MORE: Provinces will have to accept Liberal carbon tax, say experts
“The fact of the matter is, industry still has to pay the tax,” Moe countered.
“Our concern is that those industries become uncompetitive on a global scale, whether it’s our agriculture or our energy industry.”
Jason Childs, an associate economics professor at the University of Regina, shares Moe’s concern about a competitive loss. He said this will likely also result in job losses.
“It’s going to hurt our agricultural sector, it’s going to hurt our potash sector, it’s going to hurt our oil sector as well,” Childs said.
“Not as much as Alberta’s going to get hit, but we’re going to get hit. And it’s going to cost jobs.”
A concern of Childs’ is that he doesn’t see anything to go with the predicted job losses to offset the loss in the federal plan.
The Saskatchewan Environmental Society (SES) said this can be an opportunity for the provincial government to take climate change more seriously. SES policy coordinator Hayley Carlson would like to see greater collaboration between government and industry.
“One of the best ways of taking action on this issue would be taking the revenue generated from carbon tax and, maybe using it as a finance sort of a feed-in tariff to incentivize renewable energy development in the province,” she explained.
Moe said, for now, the province’s main concern is keeping business competitive.
Comments