Moe says Saskatchewan to stop collecting carbon tax on heating if no federal break given | CBC News
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Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says his province will stop collecting the carbon tax if Ottawa doesn’t offer a break on heating costs.
Moe said Monday that the provincial gas utility SaskEnergy won’t collect or submit the tax to the federal government beginning Jan. 1, unless Ottawa provides the province an exemption.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last week that home heating oil would be exempt from the carbon tax for three years to address affordability needs.
The move largely helps those in Atlantic provinces, where the oil is a main source for home heating.
Moe and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have asked Trudeau to extend that exemption to cover all other forms of heating, including natural gas.
Smith said Alberta isn’t able to do the same thing Saskatchewan’s premier has threatened, because Alberta doesn’t have a Crown corporation that handles heating.
“They [federal government] have to put a reprieve on carbon tax on all home heating, in all provinces, on all sources of heating. Otherwise, you are going to see these kinds of actions taken by the provinces who can,” Smith said, in a media conference on Monday.
Featured VideoSaskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says his province ‘will take matters into our own hands’ if the federal government’s decision to exempt home heating oil isn’t extended to cover other forms of heating.
According to Statistics Canada, Alberta led the country with 82 per cent of its households using natural gas as their primary heating system in 2021. Saskatchewan followed as a close second, at 79 per cent.
Both the provinces have long called on the government to scrap the carbon tax.
Saskatchewan took Ottawa to court over the carbon tax in 2021, but lost its challenge when the Supreme Court deemed the tax was constitutional.
Smith said that Alberta would rather resolve the issue politically, but that a legal pathway isn’t out of the question.
“If the federal government isn’t living up to the commitment of setting a single price across the country for everyone, then perhaps they’re not living up to the spirit of what the court determined and maybe that decision needs a revisit,” she said.
Moe said he understands it may be illegal to not collect the tax, but that he believes Saskatchewan residents should be treated fairly.
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