REGINA - An Act meant to fulfill the government's commitment in the recent provincial election to extend the carbon tax exemption on home heating was introduced in the Saskatchewan Legislature Tuesday.
Minister Responsible for SaskEnergy Jeremy Harrison has introduced The SaskEnergy (Carbon Tax Fairness for Families) Amendment Act, 2024.
In speaking to Sask Today, Harrison said this will "extend for another year the carbon tax rebate on home heating fuel and electricity for Saskatchewan residents and Saskatchewan customers of SaskEnergy. It really was intended to replicate the decision (Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau had made over a year ago to exempt the very same thing from Atlantic Canada, so the initial bill had provided a one-year exemption. This bill is being re-introduced to reproduce, in a similar form, to extend that rebate for another year which is something that we ran on in the recent election campaign."
In response to the federal government's decision to stop charging the carbon tax on home heating oil, which primarily benefits families in Atlantic Canada, the Government of Saskatchewan had removed the carbon tax on home heating at the beginning of 2024.
The provincial government says the removal of the federal carbon tax from residential SaskEnergy bills is saving the average Saskatchewan family approximately $400 in 2024. Due to the expected increase in the carbon tax on April 1, 2025, from $80 to $95 per tonne, the government says, continued removal of the federal carbon tax from residential SaskEnergy bills will save the average Saskatchewan family approximately $480 in 2025.
The bill proposes to amend The SaskEnergy Act and The SaskEnergy (Carbon Tax Fairness for Families) Amendment Act, 2023, to repeal a sunset clause which is set to take effect on Dec. 20, 2024, ensuring that the Government of Saskatchewan remains the sole registered distributor of natural gas for the purposes of the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act throughout 2025 and beyond.
Harrison said this bill and the Saskatchewan Affordability Act were "really two of the very significant priorities for the government upon being reelected."
He also expects this legislation will take effect right away, saying he is "very very optimistic that the bill is going to pass through the legislature" before the end of the current sitting of the Legislature.
It likely means the government will continue to not see eye to eye with the federal government on the thorny issue of the carbon tax. On that issue Harrison had this to say:
"They're going to continue along with the support of the NDP to have a carbon tax it continuously is rising on citizens across this country. The public are going to have an opportunity to pass judgement on this, and I very much look forward to a carbon tax federal election in the hopefully near future -- but it could be as late as October of next year. I look forward to that carbon tax election where not just the citizens a Saskatchewan but citizens across the country are going to have the opportunity to weigh in on whether they think the Trudeau-Singh Liberal-NDP carbon tax should stay in place for the near future… I think I know what the answer to that question is going to be. But that being said the public are going to have the opportunity to make that decision."
"Very hopeful that that is going to be the case. Based on that bill passing the legislature and being given Royal Assent, the law will come into force immediately, and at the end of the day that Saskatchewan customers of SaskEnergy are not going to be paying the carbon tax over the course of this winter."
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