The carbon tax was front and centre in a presentation from provincial Justice Minister Don Morgan at the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce Thursday morning.
Morgan was a last-minute replacement for Environment Minister Dustin Duncan, who had to pull out to attend a funeral.
Morgan spoke about the impact of the carbon tax on the province, and particularly on the legal avenues the province will be pursuing.
One of those is a reference application from the province going to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, which will be heard this fall.
That reference case will deal with the legality of imposing a federal carbon tax on Saskatchewan.
“We take the federal law, we take it to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal and say 'judges, look at this, does this comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is this within the purview of the federal government to pass this?’” said Morgan.
“We’re hoping that they will make a decision either late this year or early next year and that the feds don’t impose something in the meantime.”
The argument, Morgan says, is based on the premise that the carbon tax is not really a tax, but “a penalty on provinces that don’t do what the federal government wants.”
“They’re saying the tax will vary from province to province to province. If you’ve got something that they like already, then ‘we won’t tax you at all. In Saskatchewan, we don’t like what you’ve already done, we don’t care about BD3 ... so therefore we’re going to impose this tax on you,’” Morgan said.
While Morgan said the provincial government felt they had a good legal argument, he told reporters that win or lose he expects this case will ultimately be appealed to the Supreme Court.
Morgan also voiced alarm about the economic impact of a carbon tax. “We worry it’s going to do enormous damage to our province,” he said.
When Chamber president Terry Caldwell asked what the impact would be on the average consumer, Morgan responded people would see is a “10 to 15 per cent increase per litre on gasoline, and a 10 per cent increase initially on home fuels.”
The other thing people would see is costs reflected in airline transport. He told reporters there would be impacts on vehicles transporting food or building materials coming into the province.
Morgan also spoke about the changing political environment, with Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives winning a majority in Ontario. Ford has openly opposed a cap on trade and the carbon tax and Morgan said this could be a “game changer.”
“By having Ontario taking the same position or appearing to take the same position, we think that will add a lot more political weight to this and we’re hoping that the federal government sees this as a call that they revisit the position that they’ve taken,” said Morgan to reporters.
