REGINA - The opposition New Democrats are saying the Sask Party government claim that Saskatchewan is the first carbon tax free province in Canada is "pure fantasy."
That was the word of Aleana Young, NDP Economy and Jobs critic, on Monday following the release on Friday of the first quarter financial update.
In particular, the NDP played a video in which Premier Scott Moe declared Saskatchewan a carbon tax free province, and then Young zeroed in on the line item for Output-Based Performance Standards -- the provincial carbon tax --- in the update. That was listed as being $466.9 million.
"But wait a sec -- you may remember that on April 1, the Sask Party claimed that Saskatchewan was carbon tax-free. They said they'd gotten rid of their provincial carbon tax," Young said.
"Well, it turns out that Scott Moe, (ministers) Travis Keisig, Jim Reiter, Jeremy Harrison, they were all playing an April Fool's joke on us. But it's not particularly funny. Because there's nothing funny about this tired and out-of-touch government that is lying to the people of Saskatchewan. Because let's be clear, this government is either planning to impose a carbon tax, which means they lied. Or, their budget deficit is actually half a billion dollars larger. $815 million at the end of Q1, which again means they lied. And they're using these carbon tax dollars to prop up their fictional budget.
"So late on Friday, I believe the government tried to tell members of the media that it is not currently collecting any cash payments under the program. Financial forecasting will be updated once a final decision on the future of the program is made later this year. Except I remember the Premier of this province telling us that we were carbon tax-free on April 1. That they'd already made a decision."
Last Friday, Finance Minister Jim Reiter had announced the province was running a $349 million deficit after posting a $12 million surplus in the spring budget. It was noted in that first quarter update that there was a $163 million decrease in SaskPower net income, due to removal of the federal carbon tax from customer bills in the first quarter.
Reiter also told reporters in Saskatoon that the province would try to ramp up discussions with the federal government to remove the federal industrial carbon tax. He said they need to "bring that to a conclusion."
“We're continuing to have discussions,” said Reiter. “I know the Premier has, I have with a number of ministers, discussions on where we go with the asking the federal government to reverse course on that. In the meantime though, this acts as an affordability measure. SaskPower is absorbing that cost so that people -- Saskatchewan residents, homeowners, businesses -- don't have to pay that.”
At a news conference in March announcing the removal of the carbon tax, Premier Scott Moe had told reporters that what they were doing was “deferring the OBPS program,” or output based performance standards program. Moe was grilled by reporters on what the budget impact would be, but he insisted it would be minimal.
“We feel it has an immaterial effect on the budget but we will have a consultation process with industry on how we would be able to exit that program. We have always stood from day one against this tax.”
At her news conference Monday, Young blasted the Sask Party for a "blatant deception of the people of Saskatchewan... This isn't clever politics. This is snake oil." She also called the inclusion of the $466.9 million in OBPS revenue as "kind of bonkers."
"They're either using their carbon tax dollars to pad the budget, making it look nearly half a billion dollars to the better. Or it's equally as bonkers because the government of Saskatchewan is going to make a U-turn on the carbon tax. There is some delicious irony here that Scott Moe and the Sask Party can only, I was going to say balance their budget, but that's not accurate. That Scott Moe and the Sask Party need to pad their deficit budget with carbon tax dollars because they're spending like such drunken sailors. It's unclear at this point. There's two options, neither of which are good. Either they're bringing back the Sask Party carbon tax, which they said on April 1 was gone, but we see they're still accounting for revenue."
Sask Today has reached out to the province for a response and their statement reads as followe:
”In late March, Premier Scott Moe announced that the Government of Saskatchewan would be pausing the collection of cash payment for the industrial carbon tax under the Output-Based Performance Standards (OBPS) Program, effective April 1, 2025, while the future of the program is reviewed.
“Pausing the collection of compliance payments from SaskPower and industry is a measure taken while discussing the permanent removal of the federally mandated industrial carbon tax. SaskPower also removed the collection of the industrial carbon tax from customer bills to provide financial relief for the people of Saskatchewan. This action is saving Saskatchewan residents and businesses approximately $30 million per month, a cost SaskPower is currently absorbing while negotiations are ongoing.”
The province’s statement also addresses the OBPS line item in the first quarter update:
“Although OBPS is still a revenue line item in the first quarter report, it is there for accounting purposes only as the province is not currently collecting any cash payments under the program. Financial forecasting will be updated once a final decision on the future of the program is made later this year.”
With files from Jon Perez
