聽 聽 聽What Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to impose on Saskatchewan is not fair.
聽 聽 聽His carbon price plan 鈥� which will charge a tax of $10 a tonne by 2018, rising to $50 a tonne by 2022 鈥� does disproportionally hurt a coal- and oil-producing province like Saskatchewan.
聽 聽 聽And one strongly suspects he imposed it while knowing full well that it does him little political harm in Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes where there are more Liberal voters (Although it should be noted that the environment minister from Nova Scotia 鈥� along with the Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan鈥檚 Scott Moe 鈥� were the ministers who walked out of the national gathering upon hearing Trudeau鈥檚 announcement).
聽 聽 聽One might even accept Premier Brad Wall鈥檚 calculations that Trudeau鈥檚 carbon tax will cost an average Saskatchewan family $1,250 a year and 鈥渨ill siphon over $2.5 billion from Saskatchewan鈥檚 economy when fully implemented鈥� by 2022, according to his statement.
聽 聽 聽鈥淎s I have said many times before, we are having the wrong conversation in Canada,鈥� Wall said in a prepared written statement minutes after Trudeau鈥檚 announcement.聽
聽 聽 聽Wall鈥檚 statement went on to insist carbon pricing 鈥渉olds the lowest potential for reducing emissions, while potentially doing the greatest harm to the Canadian economy.鈥�
聽 聽 聽But let us also accept a couple other realities that may not necessarily be easy to swallow.
聽 聽 聽The first is that - left to his own devices - Wall would choose to do virtually nothing to address greenhouse gas emissions.
聽 聽 聽Yes, Wall has made costly carbon capture and storage the centrepiece of the government鈥檚 response.
聽 聽 聽But if we are now being taxed on carbon output, what Trudeau鈥檚 carbon tax (and we are well within our right to call it that) will mostly do is demonstrate that our carbon capture and sequestration efforts haven鈥檛 really worked.
聽 聽 聽This takes us to the second uncomfortable reality for many, which is the fact that we are living in a world where we are experiencing the impact of man-made climate change and are conveniently ignoring that reality.
聽 聽 聽It was rather interesting that Wall concluded his statement by saying he would 鈥渋nvestigate all options to mitigate the impact of one of the largest national tax increases in Canadian history.鈥�
聽 聽 聽Had he put as much effort into providing a made-in-Saskatchewan climate strategy response, he would be in a far better position to respond to a federal taxing scheme none us are going to much like.
聽 聽 聽Really, it has been this inaction that has paved the way for Trudeau鈥檚 carbon-pricing plan.
聽 聽 聽Wall鈥檚 government still finds it difficult to make anything other than begrudging admissions that man-made climate change is real.
聽 聽 聽That invasive species like zebra mussels have taken up more of the Saskatchewan environment minister鈥檚 time than climate change says all too much.
聽 聽 聽By using language like鈥渟tunning disrespect鈥� and 鈥渂etrayal鈥� to describe Trudeau鈥檚 plan, Wall is playing the all-too-common notion in today鈥檚 world that politics is a sports event where it鈥檚 okay to blindly cheer for the home side.
聽 聽 聽This is not a 鈥楻ider game and the problem here isn鈥檛 cheating referees or the opponents using dirty tactics.
聽 聽 聽Climate change is a real issue and we all need to have a say in addressing it.
聽 聽 聽Admittedly, this doesn鈥檛 mean that what Trudeau is imposing is anything close to the right answer. Wall is right to call him on it.
聽 聽 聽It might very well be exactly as Wall described and that this is the wrong solution that disproportionally impacts Saskatchewan鈥檚 coal and oil industry.
聽 聽 聽Personally, one wonders why this federal government and others choose not to address this issue at the tailpipe of a vehicle (which Trudeau wouldn鈥檛 do, because that would hammer voters in Ontario and Quebec).
聽 聽 聽But if he and Saskatchewan are going to take on Trudeau on this this carbon tax, Wall better have a strategy in his back pocket.
聽 聽 聽Ranting at Trudeau and the federal government is not good enough.
