Here's why provinces aren't following Saskatchewan's lead on the carbon tax home heating fight
The war of words over the price on pollution reached a new level this week with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warning Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe that the Canada Revenue Agency will be knocking on his door, looking for the province's remittance from the federal backstop, after Moe stopped collecting the carbon tax on natural gas or home heating.
"Good luck Premier Moe, CRA is an independent organization that is very, very good at getting money it is owed from Canadians from businesses, and now from provinces, if it has to," Trudeau told reporters at a news conference Wednesday, after vowing that Saskatchewan residents would still receive the Canada Carbon Rebate.
In October 2023, Premier Moe announced his government would stop collecting and remitting the carbon levy on certain forms of energy, after the federal government instituted a three-year exemption on home heating oil. That fuel is primarily used in Atlantic Canada and was seen as a political carve-out for that region of the country.
In February, the Saskatchewan government confirmed it would be recognized as the individual supplier of natural gas by the Canada Revenue Agency. By not collecting and remitting the carbon tax, the province is violating the law and risking fines or legal repercussions.
In an email to CTV News responding to Trudeau's warning, Moe's office said the province has "remitted the appropriate amount of carbon tax to the federal government."
"We will dispute any action from the CRA to collect additional carbon tax and we will defend Saskatchewan's interests as required," the premier's spokesperson, Julie Leggott, added in an email.
The Canada Revenue Agency has not responded to CTV News' request for comment on how the organization intends to collect the money from the province, but there appears to be another way the federal government could call the province out.
Buried on page 408 of the federal budget is a proposal to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act to give federal officials, like the Minister of National Revenue, the power to tell the public when a province isn't complying with the federal pollution pricing system.
For months, a number of premiers have voiced their opposition to the federal price on pollution imposed on those jurisdictions that didn't have their own, or whose plans did not meet the federal government's standard. In light of the latest Moe-Trudeau showdown, questions were raised around whether other provinces could follow suit and stop collecting the carbon levy on home heating, and still see their residents be refunded.
CTV News cast a net across the country to inquire with the provinces – Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador – which have asked the federal government to pause or remove the federal carbon tax. We learned that not all of them can stop collecting the levy for the federal backstop. Here's why.
Alberta
"We don't have that possibility," Premier Danielle Smith said in October 2023 when asked if she would follow Premier Moe.
Alberta isn't able to because that province has a private energy market, meaning private operators pay the tax directly to the federal government. Smith has said she won't ask private-sector operators to be out of compliance with the law.
"Alberta stands with Saskatchewan and Premier Scott Moe in their fight against the unfair and unconstitutional region-specific and fuel-specific application of the carbon tax," Premier Smith's press secretary, Sam Blackett, wrote in an email.
Ontario
The province of Ontario is in a similar situation as Alberta where home heating energy is supplied by private companies. The director of media relations for Premier Doug Ford told CTV News that Ontario would never ask private companies to violate federal law.
"The federal government should simply do the right, fair thing and eliminate the carbon tax across the board," Caitlin Clark said.
Nova Scotia
The Minister of Environment and Climate Change for Nova Scotia, Timothy Halman, is strongly opposed to the federal price on pollution, but pointed out, like in other provinces, the levy is remitted by private natural gas companies. As a result, the province has no role in collecting the carbon tax on natural gas.
In a statement, Halman pointed to his government's greenhouse gas reduction target contained in a policy called the "Still Better than a Carbon Tax Plan." Among other things, the policy calls for the phasing out of coal-fired electricity generation and to have 80 per cent of Nova Scotia's energy supplied by renewables by 2030.
Prince Edward Island
While Premier Dennis King has been an opponent of the federal carbon tax, his government will not be following Premier Moe's lead.
In a statement to CTV News, Emily Blue from the office of the premier said, "This is not something that PEI is considering at this time."
Newfoundland and Labrador
The lone Liberal premier to call for a halt to the carbon tax reiterated that position at the beginning of the month in a letter to Trudeau. Andrew Furey wrote, "We need a constructive approach to decarbonize our environment without placing the burden on individual families who simply do not have viable alternative options."
Asked if Newfoundland and Labrador would follow Saskatchewan, Furey's director of communications Meghan McCabe told CTV News in a statement, "Premier Furey has been clear that the carbon tax is not the right instrument to mitigate the impact of climate change at this time in our province, and continues to ask the federal government to adjust its policy."
New Brunswick
Officials from Premier Blaine Higgs' office did not respond to CTV News' request for comment.
Correction
This story has been corrected to say the Saskatchewan government confirmed in February it would be recognized as the individual supplier of natural gas by the Canada Revenue Agency.
IN DEPTH
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Three dead, two hospitalized, following collision in Fredericton: police
Three people have died and two have been hospitalized after a speeding car struck a tree and landed on another vehicle in Fredericton Sunday morning.
Amid climate change warnings, Canadians lukewarm on electric vehicles
Amid scientists' warnings that nations need to transition away from fossil fuels to limit climate change, Canadians are still lukewarm on electric vehicles, according to a study conducted by Nanos Research for CTV News.
Montreal man on the hook for thousands of dollars after a feature on his Tesla caused an accident
A Montreal man is warning Tesla drivers about using the Smart Summon feature after his vehicle hit another in a parking lot.
Madonna's biggest-ever concert transforms Rio's Copacabana beach into a massive dance floor
Madonna put on a free concert on Copacabana beach Saturday night, turning Rio de Janeiro's vast stretch of sand into an enormous dance floor teeming with a multitude of her fans.
1 person killed and 23 injured in a bus crash in northern Maryland, police say
One person was killed and 23 others were injured when a bus crashed early Sunday on Interstate 95 in northern Maryland, police said.
Nylander defends Leafs' core after playoff exit, Toronto again picks up the pieces
The Maple Leafs battled back from a 3-1 series deficit against the Boston Bruins with consecutive 2-1 victories - including one that required extra time - in their first-round playoff series to push the club's Original Six rival to the limit before suffering a devastating Game 7 overtime loss.
El Nino weakening doesn't mean cooler temperatures this summer, forecasters say
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
‘Love has no boundaries’: Sask. couple in their 90s and 80s get married
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Video shows gaggle of geese stopping traffic on Highway 1 near Vancouver
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
Local Spotlight
Twin Alberta Ballet dancers retire after 15 years with company
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Canada's oldest hat store still going strong after 90 years
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Road closed in Oak Bay, B.C., so elephant seal can cross
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
B.C. breweries take home awards at World Beer Cup
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Kitchener family says their 10-year-old needs life-saving drug that cost $600,000
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.