Premier Brad Wall has issued a statement expressing his strong disapproval of the federal government’s Oct. 3 proposal to implement a pan-Canadian carbon price of $10 per tonne in 2018, eventually reaching $50 per tonne by 2022. The federal government’s announcement came during a series of climate change negotiations between provincial and territorial environment ministers along with their federal counterpart, Catherine McKenna, in Montreal.
In the statement, Wall expressed his disapproval at the federal government’s decision to announce a unilateral carbon tax, while the provincial and territorial environment ministers met to discuss a collaborative climate change plan.
Wall said that the meeting between the premiers is “not worth the CO2 emissions it took for the environment ministers to get there,” in light of the federal government’s announcement, and that the announcement was a sign of disrespect on the part of the prime minister and his government.
Another issue Wall wrote about was the damage he sees a unilateral carbon tax as bringing to the Saskatchewan economy—an economy that is already adversely affected by the downturn in commodity prices.
“The bottom line is that the Saskatchewan economy…will be one of the hardest hit by the new federal carbon tax, because of our trade-exposed resource industries,” wrote Wall. “The carbon tax will siphon over $2.5 billion from Saskatchewan’s economy when fully implemented and make our province a less competitive place to do business.”
Wall added that the implementation of carbon pricing may have an adverse effect on how the U.S. and Canada do business, and suggested there could be an “exodus of oil rigs south of the border, and fewer people working in Saskatchewan’s already struggling oil and gas sector,” if the federal government goes ahead with unilateral carbon pricing.
“Saskatchewan industries will feel the impact. So, too, will Saskatchewan families. We estimate the carbon tax will cost the average family $1,250 a year,” wrote Wall. “Our farm families will be among the hardest hit. The carbon tax will impede Saskatchewan’s continuing efforts to export high quality food products to global customers.”
Wall emphasized that national carbon pricing won’t have an appreciable effect in reducing emissions, and at the same time, will be the most harmful to the Canadian economy. He noted that Canada produces less than two per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
“Whatever impact the federal carbon tax will have on Canada’s emissions, global GHG emissions will continue to rise because of the developing world’s reliance on coal-fired electricity,” wrote Wall. “Canada can make an important contribution in the battle against climate change by developing made-in-Canada solutions in areas like power production, transportation, natural resource development, manufacturing and construction.”
