Carbon tax flap puts Sask. Premier Moe back on offensive

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is back on familiar ground, lobbing shots at the federal government's carbon tax policy, and he has picked up an unlikely ally along the way.

Moe has spent the better part of his time as premier fighting the federal carbon pricing plan. He took the fight all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 2021 deemed the policy constitutional in a 6-3 decision.

The anti-carbon-tax rhetoric from Moe and his government had died down from its peak, but was rejuvenated this week by a Liberal government decision and comments by a Liberal cabinet minister.

Moe said this week in a social media video that Ottawa's decision to exempt heating oil — primarily used in Atlantic Canada — from the carbon tax for three years was unfair.

Moe also said SaskEnergy would stop collecting carbon tax for the federal government as of Jan. 1, 2024, if a similar break isn't extended to other heating sources, including the natural gas used most in Saskatchewan. He acknowledged that would violate legislation.

"The federal government may say that's illegal," Moe said in the video.

"In most cases, I would agree with that, but it's the federal government that has created two classes of taxpayers by providing an exemption for heating oil, an exemption that really only applies in one part of the country and effectively excludes Saskatchewan."

Minister responsible for SaskEnergy Dustin Duncan said Tuesday that the province was exploring ways to transfer legal responsibility for breaking the legislation from SaskEnergy and its leadership to the provincial government and himself as the minister.

"I guess if it comes to that point where somebody's going to carbon jail, it likely will be me," Duncan said.

Thirty per cent of homeowners in the Atlantic region still use furnace oil to heat their homes.

The federal government is giving those affected time to switch from heating oil to heat pumps.

Trudeau defended the decision to only exempt heating oil on Tuesday, arguing it is more expensive than gas and propane, and is generally used by low-income Canadians.

Moe also took umbrage with comments made by Federal Rural Economic Development Minister Gudie Hutchings.

In a recent CTV interview, she said the carve-out for home heating oil was driven by advocacy from Atlantic Canadian Liberal MPs.