Saskatchewan may be without a carbon tax rebate this spring following the back and forth between the provincial and federal governments.
Saskatchewan’s government said in October that SaskEnergy would stop collecting the carbon price from natural gas customers beginning in 2024.
That led Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson to state that Ottawa will no longer be giving the rebates to Saskatchewan residents
Canadian Taxpayers Federation Federal Director Franco Terrazzano says that’s not yet a sure deal.
“The energy minister in Ottawa, he has made the threat that there will be no rebates, although I have seen some of his staff try to walk that back. At the moment, it’s not clear what is going to happen with the rebates in Saskatchewan. I guess we’ll find out on April 15th when the next round of rebates goes out.”
Terrazano says that even if the rebate comes back to Saskatchewan, the carbon tax will still have a negative effect.
“The most important thing to remember is that even after the rebates, the carbon tax will cost the average family in Saskatchewan 525 bucks a year, even after the rebates. Those are numbers from the parliamentary budget officer, but even if you set the data aside, it’s so obvious that the carbon tax cost people more than the rebates.”
Between the provincial and federal governments, Terrazzano hopes that Saskatchewan won’t have to deal with the carbon tax at all in the future.
Premier Scott Moe’s heart’s in the right place and Trudeau is in the wrong and what should happen is Trudeau should completely scrap the carbon tax. It makes people’s lives more expensive and it doesn’t help the environment. That’s what he should do, but at the very least, Trudeau should not be raising the carbon tax again on April 1.”
