Both premiers are ready to go to court with the feds
By Kate Ayers
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Scott Moe, Saskatchewan’s Premier, and Doug Ford, Ontario’s Premier, are working together to stop the feds from applying a national carbon tax.
“Carbon taxes make life unaffordable for families, and puts thousands of jobs at risk,” Ford and Moe said in a joint release on Thursday.
“This type of taxation does nothing for the environment and hits people in the wallet in order to fund big government initiatives.”
A one-size-fits-all carbon tax made in Ottawa fails to recognize Canada’s diverse economy, Moe said in a Farmscape article on Monday.
“We agreed that, in a time of economic uncertainty, we need to put more money back in the pockets of families and businesses,” the pair said in the government release.
“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.”
At present, two provinces are complying with the tax, two provinces are in court and the remaining provinces and territories are not meeting the carbon tax backstop, Moe said.
A federal carbon pricing backstop system will apply to any province or territory that does not have a carbon pricing system in place by 2018 that aligns with the benchmark the government published two years ago, the Government of Canada’s website said.
Indeed, Saskatchewan has its own climate change strategy called Prairie Resilience.
“We will accomplish our goal of addressing climate change without a carbon tax,” Moe said in the Farmscape article.
Both Ford and Moe agree that the federal government should not be able to impose a carbon tax on the provinces. So, Ontario is joining the reference case Saskatchewan initiated with its Court of Appeal.
The provinces are prepared to go to court to challenge the federal government, the release said.
Scott Moe/Twitter photo