Moe pondering options on natural resource money, but doesn’t mention gas tax cut

While everyone is paying sky-high prices to fill up the tank, the Saskatchewan government is pulling in more money thanks to natural resource prices.

But what should that money go towards?

In Alberta, Premier Jason Kenney cut his province’s 13-cent-per-litre gas tax in April. It’ll stay in effect as long as the price of oil is over $90 per barrel.

However, it doesn’t sound like Saskatchewan will be doing the same.

Premier Scott Moe joined Gormley on Tuesday to talk about what his government might end up spending the extra resource money on.

He didn’t mention cutting the provincial gas tax like Kenney did, but toyed with the idea of offering a rebate. Moe doesn’t think that’s a perfect solution.

“Rebating the fuel tax is one option. It has no benefit to farmers, for example, as they don’t pay most of the fuel tax that is there. Any of the off-road operators wouldn’t pay any of that fuel tax, so there would be no benefit to that community,” he said.

He also pointed to the possibility of a wider rebate.

“That could potentially be a discussion (because) it would ultimately go to everyone, not specific groups,” Moe said.

However, he also said there are talks about something that would affect fewer people.

“Infrastructure investments would be maybe a little more localized,” he said.

And another possibility is paying down the provincial debt.

“We’ve accumulated a few billion dollars of debt in the last couple of years due to supporting businesses and families and providing health care. Testing, additional health-care services due to the pandemic … we do have an increased deficit, and debt reduction also benefits everyone here in the province as it is ultimately each of our debt as well,” Moe said.

No matter what his government decides, it will take a while longer.

He said government officials would likely know the direction of their decisions in the first quarter of the fiscal year, which runs from April to the end of June. Moe said that then, “hopefully, we will be able to act on those decisions by Q2,” which runs from July to September.

Update on Ukrainian refugees

Moe also took the time to speak about bringing Ukrainian refugees to Saskatchewan.

He’s as enthusiastic as ever about the idea, but there have been some bumps along the road. For one, he said there have been some issues with the federal government.

“I’m not sure why we haven’t had any federal planes that have landed here. We had one that I believe was diverted to Montreal. It was destined for Saskatchewan. I don’t understand why that was. I didn’t receive a good answer as to why that was the case,” he said.

Still, he’s talking with Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada and is optimistic about the idea of sending planes from Saskatchewan to Ukraine.

“We would load them with some supplies to send into that area and then bring Ukrainian refugees back,” he explained. “If we need to add to that with provincially funded flights, we most certainly are going to do that.”

He pointed out the entire country will be taking in about 30,000 refugees, but that number may be higher. Moe still wants Saskatchewan to take in as many as possible.

“Sixteen per cent of people in this province are of Ukrainian heritage. We’ll take as many as we can. People who’ve come from Ukraine to Saskatchewan in the decades gone by, they’re very much a part of the fabric and the culture of this province,” Moe said.

“They helped us build, in most cases, community after community across this province. We most certainly are going to be there as a province to take as many as we’re required to take.”