Premier Attributes Saskatchewan Inflation Dip to Removal of Carbon Tax on Home Heating

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe speaks to the media in Regina on March 22, 2023. (The Canadian Press / Heywood Yu)

Saskatchewan’s rate of inflation has dropped to 1.7 percent, a feat Premier Scott Moe is attributing to his government’s decision to remove the carbon tax on home heating costs.

Mr. Moe took to social media on March 19 to announce the change, saying inflation in Saskatchewan is now more than a full point lower than the national rate of 2.8 percent.

“The federal government has set a goal of getting inflation down to 2 percent,” he said in his post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “So Saskatchewan has actually achieved [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau’s goal by removing the Trudeau carbon tax, while Trudeau sticks to his plan to add to inflation by increasing the carbon tax again on April 1.”

Mr. Moe’s announcement comes as he and six other premiers appeal to Ottawa to either pause or scrap the planned carbon pricing increase slated for the beginning of next month.

The carbon tax is set to increase $15 on April 1, rising from $65 to $80 per tonne. While Mr. Trudeau has described the 23 percent pricing hike as a “logical way” to address the impacts of climate change, only the premiers of Quebec, British Columbia, and Manitoba have yet to oppose the increase publicly.

Mr. Moe has been one of the most vocal opponents of the tax and made the decision last year to begin withholding the home heating carbon tax as of Jan. 1.

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The province stopped collecting the carbon tax on home heating in response to the prime minister’s refusal to exempt all forms of home heating from the tax. Mr. Trudeau paused the tax for home heating oil last fall, a move that largely benefits Atlantic Canada.

Carbon Rebate Threat

Ottawa has threatened to halt the Canada Carbon Rebate if Saskatchewan refuses to remit the home heating carbon tax, a move Mr. Moe criticized.

“On what basis would they cancel the entire rebate, especially when they are still providing carbon tax rebates to families in Atlantic Canada?” he asked in an X post.

“If the Trudeau government follows through on this threat, they will once again be penalizing Saskatchewan families for wanting to be treated the same as other Canadians.”

Mr. Moe said if Ottawa follows through with the threat to remove the rebate, the province could choose to stop paying the federal carbon tax entirely.

The Epoch Times contacted the prime minister’s office and deputy prime minister’s for comment on the matter but did not immediately receive a response.

Levied by the Liberal government in 2019, Canada’s carbon tax is the price placed on the carbon content of fuels to reduce CO2 emissions. Ottawa has described the carbon tax as a necessity to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Carbon pricing kicked off in 2019 at $20 per tonne and rose to $50 per tonne in 2022. The price is set to rise $15 per tonne every year until it eventually reaches $170 per tonne in 2030.