There are dark clouds gathering on the horizon for Saskatchewan, with rumblings from the provincial government over the threat by the Trudeau government to impose their carbon tax on Saskatchewan if they don’t implement one themselves.
The thunderous rumbles were heard more than once at the 2017 Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show, with both our MLA and Energy and Resources Minister Dustin Duncan and Environment Minister Scott Moe describing how they are promising to take the fight to Ottawa over the issue of the carbon tax.
Duncan earned an enthusiastic applause from the audience of oil company owners and employees when he declared they will see the federal government in court unless they magically become more reasonable about their insistence on imposing this punitive tax on this province.
On the surface of it, the Trudeau government claims to be supporting the environment and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by making this carbon tax applicable across the country, but in reality it will suck out funds from taxpayers and will not accomplish anything towards reducing these harmful emissions.
Moreover, the tax will be regressive and punitive for Saskatchewan, as it will negatively impact both the oil and gas industry and the agriculture industry, and the economy overall, taking at least $750 million out of this province’s economy, money that could be far better used in providing services and essential programs to the residents of Saskatchewan.
As Duncan pointed out, the sort of punitive targetting of the oil and gas sector in Saskatchewan is not being threatened against the manufacturing sector in Ontario and Quebec, because the federal government wouldn’t dare to do anything to hurt those two central provinces.
The way the tax should be imposed on Saskatchewan would hit not only the production side, but the consumer side, and this is not being applied to any other sector of the economy.
The fact also is the numbers don’t support Ottawa. Saskatchewan only accounts for 10 per cent of emissions produced in Canada, and Canada only accounts for a very tiny percentage of emissions produced around the world.
Thus, the Wall government has grounds to fight Ottawa, on the principle of fairness, and on the principle that this action will hurt jobs and the economy in this province and will not help in any way the environment, which was the supposed goal of the tax in the first place. — Greg Nikkel
