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Chamber, MP bolstered by growing opposition to carbon tax

Jul 25, 2018 | 6:37 PM

The Battlefords Chamber of Commerce says it is encouraged by the growing number of government officials opposed to the federal government’s proposed carbon tax now that Ontario’s newly-elected Premier Doug Ford has jumped on the bandwagon.

“I think it is great news that Ontario got on board with it,” Chamber President Terry Caldwell said Wednesday, adding the tax will only challenge residents and business and not stop carbon-based pollution. “I hope that other provinces follow suit. It is just a tax. It has nothing to do with carbon.”

The federal government stated in a report on its website on the topic of environment and climate change that there is a high cost to managing the impact on the environment from pollution. It said, in December 2016 the federal government, along with most provinces and territories agreed to the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change to meet Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction target and increase the economy. It added that pricing carbon pollution is “central to the framework.”

Ottawa said starting this year the provinces and territories would have carbon pricing in place. That pricing would either have a direct price on carbon pollution starting at $10 per tonne, and rising by $10 each year to $50 per tonne in 2022; or, they will have cap-and-trade, with emission cuts in line with both Canada’s target and to the reductions expected in places with a direct price.

The Saskatchewan government however, said a federal carbon tax could potentially reduce the province’s gross domestic product by almost $16 billion between 2019 and the end of 2030.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe had asked the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal to rule on whether imposing a carbon tax on Saskatchewan would be unconstitutional. The province of Saskatchewan has also cited research by the University of Calgary that shows a federal carbon tax would cost an average Saskatchewan household more than $1,000 per year.

Summer meeting

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe recently released a joint statement about their discussions at the 2018 summer meeting of the Council of the Federation. The two premiers said they agreed to “join forces and use every single tool at our disposal to challenge the federal government’s authority to arbitrarily impose a carbon tax on the people of Ontario and Saskatchewan.” 

The joint statement said a climate change strategy is critical, but a carbon tax would increase the price of “virtually every product and service people need on a daily basis.” The premiers said Ontario will support Saskatchewan in the case Saskatchewan has launched with the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal questioning the constitutionality of the federal government’s legislation in an effort to prevent the carbon tax from going through. 

Chamber bouyed by new Saskatchewan ally in carbon tax fight

Local Chamber President Caldwell said a carbon tax would put a heavy burden onto local businesses.

“It hurts local business because people have less money in their pockets,” he said. “People will have less money to spend on everything.”

Caldwell said all Saskatchewan Chambers are against the carbon tax, and he hopes the “federal government of the day is going to hopefully back down from their position.”

In an email to battlefordsNOW, Battlefords-Lloydminster Conservative MP Rosemarie Falk said she is also opposed to the carbon tax and appreciated seeing the increasing resistance to it.

“Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are imposing their costly carbon tax on Canadians – all [the] while refusing to tell them what it will cost and what it will achieve,” Falk said. “What is even more concerning is that this carbon tax unfairly penalizes rural communities like those in Battlefords-Lloydminster.”

Falk celebrated Ford’s decision to support Moe and the provincial government in the fight against the carbon tax.

“It’s great to see that Saskatchewan has found an ally in Ontario to fight this unfair carbon tax,” she said.

– With files from Canadian Press

 

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW