Justin Trudeau says residents in Saskatchewan will keep getting carbon rebates but he is tasking the Canada Revenue Agency to collect carbon taxes from the province's natural gas furnace bills.The Saskatchewan government stopped remitting the federal carbon price on natural gas to Ottawa on January 1, a move that defies federal law. Trudeau told reporters in Saskatoon on Tuesday that the Canada Revenue Agency was being tasked to collect it.“We’re going to continue to deliver the Canada carbon rebate to families right across Saskatchewan, despite the fact that Premier Moe is not sending that money to Ottawa right now,” Trudeau said at an unrelated news conference.“The Canada Revenue Agency has ways of ensuring money that is owed to them is eventually collected."Trudeau said he trusts in the “quasi-judicial proceedings" of the CRA.Last fall, the Liberal government exempted home-heating-oil users from paying the carbon tax for the next three years. The move disproportionately helps Atlantic Canada, where the Liberals have won in the past and where support threatened to slip.Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson initially suggested rebates to Saskatchewan might be partially withheld.Dustin Duncan, the minister responsible for SaskEnergy, said he welcomed the continuation of federal rebates. However, he maintains the tax never should have been charged at all and for home heating in Saskatchewan it won't be.“We’ve done everything that we can, first and foremost, to protect the people of Saskatchewan, so that they aren’t paying an unfair carbon tax on home heating,” Duncan told reporters Tuesday at the legislature in Regina.Although federal laws would normally leave SaskEnergy, its executives and Duncan himself liable for the tax withholding, the minister doubts it will come to that."We've protected the employees of SaskEnergy through the legislation. So from that standpoint, I'm confident in the approach that we've taken," Duncan said.He said language in the federal budget suggested Ottawa may not yet have the power to collect the carbon tax from the crown corporation, but was seeking it."They'll put forward and table legislation. We'll have a look at it at the time. But so far, I think we're in a pretty good position."In Ottawa, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told the Canadian Press he was unsure how the CRA would collect the money but that Trudeau has directed the agency to do so.“(Saskatchewan residents) won’t be penalized because their premier, Premier Scott Moe, is playing politics with climate change,” Guilbeault said.“The prime minister, and I think cabinet, felt it wouldn’t be fair for the people of Saskatchewan to pay for the irresponsible attitude of the provincial government.”Moe and a majority of provincial leaders, including lone Liberal Premier Andrew Furey of Newfoundland and Labrador, have asked Trudeau to meet for a discussion on alternatives to the consumer carbon price.Moe has said the price is adding to inflationary pressures for Canadians who are desperate for affordability relief. Trudeau said most Canadians receive more money back in rebates than they pay in carbon levies, despite findings by the Parliamentary Budget Office that suggested otherwise.The prime minister's purpose in Saskatoon was to publicize a federal program that would offer $5-billion in loan guarantees to support indigenous groups who sought ownership stakes in natural resource and energy projects.The program, which was part of Budget 2024, would let indigenous communities access loans from banks at lower interest rates.The budget had other money earmarked for the indigenous, including $390 million to renovate health facilities, including more than $20 million to support the Virtual Health Hub led by the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies. Indigenous post-secondary students were granted $243 million for post-secondary education and $918 million for housing and infrastructure.
Justin Trudeau says residents in Saskatchewan will keep getting carbon rebates but he is tasking the Canada Revenue Agency to collect carbon taxes from the province's natural gas furnace bills.The Saskatchewan government stopped remitting the federal carbon price on natural gas to Ottawa on January 1, a move that defies federal law. Trudeau told reporters in Saskatoon on Tuesday that the Canada Revenue Agency was being tasked to collect it.“We’re going to continue to deliver the Canada carbon rebate to families right across Saskatchewan, despite the fact that Premier Moe is not sending that money to Ottawa right now,” Trudeau said at an unrelated news conference.“The Canada Revenue Agency has ways of ensuring money that is owed to them is eventually collected."Trudeau said he trusts in the “quasi-judicial proceedings" of the CRA.Last fall, the Liberal government exempted home-heating-oil users from paying the carbon tax for the next three years. The move disproportionately helps Atlantic Canada, where the Liberals have won in the past and where support threatened to slip.Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson initially suggested rebates to Saskatchewan might be partially withheld.Dustin Duncan, the minister responsible for SaskEnergy, said he welcomed the continuation of federal rebates. However, he maintains the tax never should have been charged at all and for home heating in Saskatchewan it won't be.“We’ve done everything that we can, first and foremost, to protect the people of Saskatchewan, so that they aren’t paying an unfair carbon tax on home heating,” Duncan told reporters Tuesday at the legislature in Regina.Although federal laws would normally leave SaskEnergy, its executives and Duncan himself liable for the tax withholding, the minister doubts it will come to that."We've protected the employees of SaskEnergy through the legislation. So from that standpoint, I'm confident in the approach that we've taken," Duncan said.He said language in the federal budget suggested Ottawa may not yet have the power to collect the carbon tax from the crown corporation, but was seeking it."They'll put forward and table legislation. We'll have a look at it at the time. But so far, I think we're in a pretty good position."In Ottawa, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told the Canadian Press he was unsure how the CRA would collect the money but that Trudeau has directed the agency to do so.“(Saskatchewan residents) won’t be penalized because their premier, Premier Scott Moe, is playing politics with climate change,” Guilbeault said.“The prime minister, and I think cabinet, felt it wouldn’t be fair for the people of Saskatchewan to pay for the irresponsible attitude of the provincial government.”Moe and a majority of provincial leaders, including lone Liberal Premier Andrew Furey of Newfoundland and Labrador, have asked Trudeau to meet for a discussion on alternatives to the consumer carbon price.Moe has said the price is adding to inflationary pressures for Canadians who are desperate for affordability relief. Trudeau said most Canadians receive more money back in rebates than they pay in carbon levies, despite findings by the Parliamentary Budget Office that suggested otherwise.The prime minister's purpose in Saskatoon was to publicize a federal program that would offer $5-billion in loan guarantees to support indigenous groups who sought ownership stakes in natural resource and energy projects.The program, which was part of Budget 2024, would let indigenous communities access loans from banks at lower interest rates.The budget had other money earmarked for the indigenous, including $390 million to renovate health facilities, including more than $20 million to support the Virtual Health Hub led by the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies. Indigenous post-secondary students were granted $243 million for post-secondary education and $918 million for housing and infrastructure.
