聽Premier Brad Wall has issued a statement expressing his strong disapproval of the federal government鈥檚 Oct. 3 proposal to implement a pan-Canadian carbon price of $10 per tonne in 2018, eventually reaching $50 per tonne by 2022. The federal government鈥檚 announcement came during a series of climate change negotiations between provincial and territorial environment ministers along with their federal counterpart, Catherine McKenna, in Montreal.
In the statement, Wall expressed his disapproval at the federal government鈥檚 decision to announce a unilateral carbon tax, while the provincial and territorial environment ministers met to discuss a collaborative climate change plan.聽
Wall said that the meeting between the premiers is 鈥渘ot worth the CO2 emissions it took for the environment ministers to get there,鈥� in light of the federal government鈥檚 announcement, and that the announcement was a sign of disrespect on the part of the prime minister and his government.
Another issue Wall wrote about was the damage he sees a unilateral carbon tax as bringing to the Saskatchewan economy鈥攁n economy that is already adversely affected by the downturn in commodity prices.聽
鈥淭he bottom line is that the Saskatchewan economy鈥ill be one of the hardest hit by the new federal carbon tax, because of our trade-exposed resource industries,鈥� wrote Wall. 鈥淭he carbon tax will siphon over $2.5 billion from Saskatchewan鈥檚 economy when fully implemented and make our province a less competitive place to do business.鈥�
Wall added that the implementation of carbon pricing may have an adverse effect on how the U.S. and Canada do business, and suggested there could be an 鈥渆xodus of oil rigs south of the border, and fewer people working in Saskatchewan鈥檚 already struggling oil and gas sector,鈥� if the federal government goes ahead with unilateral carbon pricing.
鈥淪askatchewan industries will feel the impact. So, too, will Saskatchewan families. We estimate the carbon tax will cost the average family $1,250 a year,鈥� wrote Wall. 鈥淥ur farm families will be among the hardest hit. The carbon tax will impede Saskatchewan鈥檚 continuing efforts to export high quality food products to global customers.鈥�
Wall emphasized that national carbon pricing won鈥檛 have an appreciable effect in reducing emissions, and at the same time, will be the most harmful to the Canadian economy. He noted that Canada produces less than two per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.聽
鈥淲hatever impact the federal carbon tax will have on Canada鈥檚 emissions, global GHG emissions will continue to rise because of the developing world鈥檚 reliance on coal-fired electricity,鈥� wrote Wall. 鈥淐anada can make an important contribution in the battle against climate change by developing made-in-Canada solutions in areas like power production, transportation, natural resource development, manufacturing and construction.鈥�
