Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says the Canadian government rejected the province’s submission to replace the federal carbon tax with its own, indicating the federal government would not be accepting any other submissions until 2023.
“Saskatchewan’s submission would have protected families, jobs and industries while exceeding the federal minimum standards, in close alignment with other provincial programs previously accepted,” Moe said in a statement Monday.
“The rejection of Saskatchewan’s submission can only be viewed as an arbitrary and political decision from the federal government.”
Saskatchewan was the first province to mount a legal challenge against the Liberal government’s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. It argued the legislation overstepped into provincial territory.
In March, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled 6-3 that the federal government has the constitutional right to bring in a carbon price in provinces without one.
Moe previously said Saskatchewan’s proposal would see the province design its own carbon-pricing system for fuel that would provide “an immediate rebate right at the pump to Saskatchewan people.”
The plan would also bring electrical generation and natural gas transmission under provincial regulations also being developed, he added.
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These are subject to Ottawa’s rules and not included in Saskatchewan’s existing pollution plan.
“While Saskatchewan will be fully evaluating the federal decision and exploring all avenues possible to protect our residents from the federally imposed carbon tax, we hope that the federal government does not take the same arbitrary and political approach to ongoing areas of federal-provincial negotiation, such as the federal child care funding, which Saskatchewan will continue to pursue,” Moe said.
The federal government responded to Global News with “provinces and territories have the flexibility to propose their own carbon pricing systems provided they meet the federal benchmark,” said Moira Kelly, press secretary with the office of the minister of the environment and climate change.
“As we are currently updating the benchmark to ensure fairness and consistency across Canada, and to provide certainty and stability for residents and businesses, at this stage the earliest any new or expanded system will be able to replace the backstop will be in January 2023.
“We are pleased to see Saskatchewan’s interest in developing a made-in-Saskatchewan pollution pricing plan, and remain open to conversations with Saskatchewan about what their system could look like going forward.”
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