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Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
May 2019

Vol. 24, No.19 Week of May 12, 2019

Canada’s carbon tax upheld by Saskatchewan Court of Appeal

Gary Park

for Petroleum News

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s view of federalist powers in Canada got a qualified endorsement May 3 when the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal agreed in a 3-2 decision that a federal carbon tax is constitutional.

Chief Justice Robert Richards, as part of a 155-page verdict, said the establishment of minimum national standards for a price on greenhouse gas emissions - starting at C$20 per metric ton on April 1 and growing by C$10 a year over the next three years - falls under a section of the Canadian Constitution that gives Parliament the power to pass laws in the name of “peace, order and good government.”

He wrote that “climate change caused by (GHG) emissions is one of the great existential issues of our time,” claiming that all sides in the Saskatchewan hearing accepted the importance of limiting those emissions.

The other two judges in the majority vote joined Richards in rejecting the Saskatchewan government’s argument that that the tax was being applied unevenly across Canada and would deal a crippling blow to that province’s vital agricultural and small business sectors.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said his government will meet the deadline of June 3 to file an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, backed by an offer of help from Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.

Alberta has a carbon tax of C$20 per metric ton introduced by the previous administration of Rachel Notley, but Kenney campaigned in April to move quickly to dump that tax and fight any effort by Trudeau to impose his own tax.

Andrew Scheer, leader of the federal Conservative Party, said the “job-killing” Trudeau tax “isn’t a plan to lower emissions.”

“It’s just another cash grab.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who is also challenging the federal tax, said the Saskatchewan ruling is just the beginning of a showdown over the tax that he and Moe are confident will see the Trudeau Liberals defeated in a federal election scheduled for October.

Manitoba has filed papers in the Federal Court of Canada in its own challenge.

Quebec has yet to take its own stand, but if it sides with Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, as well as New Brunswick, that would represent six of Canada’s 10 provinces and 29.3 million of the national population of 37.3 million.

Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna hailed the Saskatchewan ruling as a “victory for Canadians,” putting Ford, Kenney and Moe in the same category as U.S. President Donald Trump in their view of climate change.

- GARY PARK






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