Premier Scott Moe says the federal government has rejected Saskatchewan’s submission to replace the federal carbon tax. The Trudeau government has also indicated that it will not be accepting any further submissions until 2023. Moe says Saskatchewan’s submission would have protected families, jobs, and industries while exceeding the federal minimum standards, in close alignment with other provincial programs previously accepted.
He says the rejection of Saskatchewan’s submission can only be viewed as an arbitrary and political decision from the federal government. The Premier says Saskatchewan will be fully evaluating the federal decision and exploring all avenues possible to protect residents from the federally imposed carbon tax. He says further, that the province hopes the federal government does not take the same arbitrary and political approach to ongoing areas of federal-provincial negotiation, such as the federal child care funding, which Saskatchewan will continue to pursue.
Saskatchewan’s NDP Leader says Premier Scott Moe has once again failed the people of Saskatchewan on carbon pricing. Ryan Meili says the Premier’s statement saying the federal government has said no to Saskatchewan’s plan doesn’t include what the newly proposed plan is, so residents are left in the dark. He notes that the SaskParty’s failure to present a credible climate change plan has left Saskatchewan people subject to the federal carbon tax for the last three years, and now we will be stuck with the federal plan for another two years. Meili would like the Premier to work with the federal government to make a plan that works for this province.