Sask. premier willing to attend televised meeting over carbon tax

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he is willing to attend a televised meeting with his provincial counterparts and Justin Trudeau to discuss impacts of the federal carbon tax and its latest increase.

A Conservative motion is being debated at the House of Commons calling for the meeting.

Moe said he believes it would give Saskatchewan a chance to highlight what the province is doing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“This matches very much what seven premiers have asked thus far,” Moe said. “Let’s sit down and talk about what are the actual costs to, in our case, Saskatchewan families and industries that are employing Saskatchewan families of this flawed carbon tax that the federal government has introduced and insists on increasing annually,” Moe added.

• Download the CTV News app for Sask. related breaking news alerts on your mobile device

In Ottawa, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has asked Trudeau if he has the courage to sit down with himself and the premiers on multiple occasions.

“Why doesn’t he have the courage to sit down in a televised and open forum and have a carbon tax conference with the premiers,” Poilievre asked on Tuesday.

Trudeau’s response has been that he sat down with the premiers in 2016.

“We did sit down with the premiers eight years ago and established the Pan-Canadian Framework on climate change that both puts a price on pollution and puts more money back in the pockets of eight out of 10 Canadian families,” Trudeau said.

Moe however says he wasn’t part of that discussion eight years ago.

“I’m the longest serving premier today,” Moe said. “That meeting was with Brad Wall so it was previous to me. None of the current premiers have met with the prime minister to discuss his carbon tax,” he said.

The Conservative’s motion calls for an emergency meeting within five weeks. Moe said he supports the timeline and would attend, televised or not.