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Premier Scott Moe offered a few hints Thursday about what could be in Saskatchewan’s carbon pricing system that would replace the federal backstop.
The federal carbon tax increased Thursday from $10 per tonne to $40 per tonne. The tax is expected to continue to rise to $170 per tonne by 2030.
“The implications are vast through the provincial economy. People are going to notice it on the pumps when they fuel up their vehicle today. It’s going to increase … on the natural gas costs,” Moe told Gormley.
“The implications are far and wide to the sectors that are creating wealth and creating jobs in our communities.”
Moe specifically spoke about farmers, whom he said will face steep increases to the cost of rail transport as the tax is levied in each of Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.
“Farmers today, just in rail transportation, are paying $22 million each and every year,” he said.
By 2030, Moe said farmers will end up paying a cumulative $110 million per year in rail costs.
“I don’t see any measurable way that is actually going to reduce emissions,” he said.
Saskatchewan challenged the constitutionality of the carbon tax in the Supreme Court of Canada, but the court ruled last Thursday in favour of the federal government.
Moe said a made-in-Saskatchewan carbon pricing scheme would credit producers.
“Can that carbon tax go to the provincial government? And can we turn around and incentivize that back to Saskatchewan producers, who I would argue have done more in the way of carbon sequestration and carbon offsetting over the course of the last three decades than any other industry I’m aware of in this nation, and quite frankly around the world?” Moe said.
As for consumers, Moe is eyeing a system like New Brunswick’s, where the carbon tax is offset by cuts to its provincial gas tax, a move that Ottawa could reject as it would defeat the purpose of carbon pricing.
“We’ve identified that as the lowest-cost model moving forward and what we’re working on right now (is) how we would retrofit that model to suit Saskatchewan,” Moe said.
