SIMS/HAUBRICH: So, no Moe Carbon Taxes in Saskatchewan!

Kris Sims is the Alberta Director and Gage Haubrich is the Prairie Director for the Canadian Taxpayers FederationBeing the first to do something takes courage.Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe deserves high praise for, once again, making Saskatchewan lead the way in the fight against carbon taxes.Moe announced that he will be scrapping Saskatchewan’s industrial carbon tax on April 1, making Saskatchewan the country’s first carbon tax-free zone.“We are leading again as the first province in Canada to remove the industrial carbon tax on electricity generation, delivering further savings for Saskatchewan families, businesses and industries on their SaskPower bills,” said Minister of Crown Investments Corporation Jeremy Harrison..This will mean big savings for Saskatchewanians in other ways too. That’s because industrial carbon taxes make everything more expensive even if you don’t see the costs directly on your receipt.When governments force businesses to pay the tax, they have no choice but to pass those costs on to ordinary Canadians when they fill up their cars and heat their homes.People across Saskatchewan praised the move.“Today’s announcement is a significant step forward for rural Saskatchewan,” said Bill Huber, the president of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities. .“This decisive action will provide much-needed relief to Saskatchewan’s heavy civil construction industry, which has long been burdened by rising costs due to the carbon tax,” said Shantel Lipp, the president of the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association.Here’s the thing: Doing the right thing, especially being the first to do the right thing, is tough. Fancy people on TV will often say what you’re doing is wrong.Remember when Moe told former prime minister Justin Trudeau to shove his federal carbon tax on home heating?Saskatchewan has a provincial government crown corporation that supplies most of the province’s natural gas used for home heating..Moe said it was wrong for people to be punished by the carbon tax for heating their homes, so, he just stopped collecting it.That move saved the average Saskatchewan family about $400 last year.The Ottawa talking heads screeched that it was against the law to refuse to collect Ottawa’s tax, but the Mounties haven’t arrived at the Saskatchewan legislature yet.Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is showing similar resolve and courage.While Alberta doesn’t have a provincial Crown corporation where it can stop collecting the federal carbon tax on natural gas, Smith is going to the mat fighting Ottawa’s cap on Alberta’s energy sector and the carbon tax.Ottawa’s cap on Alberta’s oil and gas sector will blow a $20-billion hole in Canada’s economy and slash 40,000 Canadian jobs, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.Prime Minister Mark Carney says his energy cap that’s strangling Alberta’s oil and gas production is staying right where it is.Smith is not having it. Alberta will “no longer tolerate an emissions cap on oil and gas,” she said.The premier designated Alberta’s oil and gas sites as critical infrastructure to stop the federal bureaucrats from interfering. Based on this change to the law, if federal government agents attempt to access these sites, the Alberta Sheriffs would be able to arrest them for trespassing.Smith also issued a list of non-negotiable demands for Carney, including a rejection of a federal industrial carbon tax.That’s outstanding. That’s showing real guts.But now Smith needs to take one more step.Because, while Carney is promising to end the consumer carbon tax on April 1, he’s also promised to “improve and tighten” the industrial carbon tax..For those not versed in former central banker speak, it’s a good bet that means “make more expensive.”Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to scrap the hidden industrial carbon tax.There has never been a more important time to ratchet up the pressure in the fight against all carbon taxes.Smith needs to scrap Alberta’s provincial industrial carbon tax. Saskatchewan can’t be the only province that’s a carbon tax-free zone in Canada.Smith can’t stay on the bench while Moe dropped the gloves to take on the Laurentian elite and fight the hidden industrial carbon tax.Kris Sims is the Alberta Director and Gage Haubrich is the Prairie Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

SIMS/HAUBRICH: So, no Moe Carbon Taxes in Saskatchewan!

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