Sask. files carbon tax notice of appeal with Supreme Court

Saskatchewan is officially taking its case against the carbon tax to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Justice Minister and Attorney General Don Morgan said Friday in Saskatoon that the notice of appeal has been filed and the province now has two months to file its factum to the highest court.

It will be more or less the same argument presented at the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, where the province lost the case in a split 3-2 decision. Saskatchewan argues it’s unconstitutional for the federal government to impose a carbon tax on provinces in order to create a different pattern of behaviour.

The province will ask the Supreme Court of Canada if the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act is unconstitutional in whole or in part.

Saskatchewan is also asking if Parliament has jurisdiction to establish minimum national standards for price stringency for greenhouse gas emissions under the national concern branch of the peace, order and good government power.

“Even though we weren’t successful at the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, the dissenting opinions were pretty clear. They reflected the arguments that were put forward by the province and I’m hopeful that carries the day as we go into the Supreme Court,” said Morgan.

The province is optimistic with its case given the support it has from other provinces that have acted as interveners or have filed their own challenges to the carbon tax, including Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick.

“We’ve got support from many of the provinces across Canada representing probably more than 50 per cent of the population, so we think it is a wrong approach to take. Regardless of the legality of it, we think there are better ways to deal with climate change,” said Morgan.

No date has been set for the case to be heard by the Supreme Court but Morgan hopes it will be heard sometime this fall.

Saskatchewan is using two staff lawyers to do the legal work on this case and Morgan said there is no direct out-of-pocket cost to taxpayers.

“There are some filing costs and there’ll be some travel costs and some hotel costs … There is a cost,” said Morgan, who estimated that cost to be measured in a few thousand dollars.

When asked what happens if the province loses its case in the Supreme Court, Morgan implied government officials will cross that bridge when they get to it.

“We’ll cross those issues at what we do, going forward,” said Morgan.

— With files from Chris Vandenbreekel