The Government of Saskatchewan is taking Ottawa to court over the constitutionality of the federal government’s ability to impose a carbon tax in the province.
The province has filed the challenge with the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal. The appeal is looking to find out if The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act introduced in parliament on March 28 is unconstitutional in whole or in part.
“We do not believe the federal government has the constitutional right to impose the Trudeau carbon tax on Saskatchewan, against the wishes of the government and people of Saskatchewan,” Premier Scott Moe said in a written statement. “We have a made-in-Saskatchewan plan to reduce emissions and fight climate change, and that plan does not include a job-killing carbon tax on Saskatchewan families.”
According to Justice Minister Don Morgan, the province’s constitutional lawyers say the federal carbon tax legislation can be challenged because it only imposes the carbon tax on certain provinces based on how the provinces are implementing a carbon plan in its own jurisdiction.
“This runs contrary to the principle of federalism, which is one of the bedrocks of our constitutional division of powers, because it fails to respect the sovereignty and autonomy of the provinces with respect to matters under their jurisdiction,” Morgan said in a release. “Simply put, we do not believe the federal government has the right to impose a tax on one province but not others just because they don’t like our climate change plan.”
The constitution says each government level is sovereign in its own legislative realm and provinces are not subsidiaries of the Government of Canada. Ottawa can’t override provincial authority in areas of provincial jurisdiction.
Saskatchewan released a climate change strategy in December 2017. The Saskatchewan plan includes development of output-based performance standards, increasing efficiencies, creating freight strategies to improve delivery times and reducing fuel, and developing a climate resiliency model.
“Our made-in-Saskatchewan climate change strategy is broader and bolder than a carbon tax,” Environment Minister Dustin Duncan said in a written statement. “Our plan to reduce emissions from the electricity sector by 40 per cent and methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 to 45 per cent by 2030 shows we are serious about tackling climate change. Our Saskatchewan story also includes our agriculture industry that sequesters nearly 12 million tonnes of CO2 annually and carbon capture at Boundary Dam 3 that has prevented two million tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering our atmosphere. Saskatchewan is the solution, not the problem.”
“Our government will continue to stand up for Saskatchewan against the Trudeau government’s costly and ineffective carbon tax,” Moe said.
