Sask. NDP calls for expansion of carbon tax relief

After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an exemption to the carbon tax on heating oil in Atlantic Canada, Saskatchewan’s NDP is calling for the federal government to help out people in the prairies too.

On Thursday, the federal government announced a temporary, three-year pause to carbon pricing on deliveries of heating oil, widely used in the Atlantic provinces. The government said households that use the oil could save about $250 on average.

It also announced that it will double the top-up to the carbon price rebate for rural Canadians starting in April.

On Friday, Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck said in a statement that the federal government should extend the relief.

“This exemption is a clear recognition that Canadians are struggling with crushing inflation and higher costs but it has specifically left out relief for the people of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta,” wrote Beck.

“Instead of picking and choosing who gets relief based on Prime Minister Trudeau’s election map, we’re calling on the federal government to extend relief to all Canadian families.”

She said all Canadians have seen costs go up and deserve relief.

Beck also put Trudeau and Premier Scott Moe in the same basket, saying both have increased costs on Saskatchewan families, and both have “lost touch with the challenges of hard-working people in Saskatchewan.”

Moe responded to the feds’ announcement in a post on social media Thursday, saying the exemption amounted to an admission that the federal carbon tax wasn’t helping Canadians and calling on the federal government to “axe the tax.”

The Saskatchewan provincial government recently has continued its push against federal government policies it feels stray into provincial jurisdiction, like the carbon tax.

In this week’s throne speech, the government talked about how the federal government is hurting Saskatchewan’s people and economy. It also announced that a tribunal under the Saskatchewan First Act would be appointed soon and would begin to examine some of those federal laws.