Sask. won’t remit carbon tax on home heating, Duncan says

Saskatchewan will not remit the carbon tax on natural gas used for home heating to Ottawa.

Dustin Duncan, the minister responsible for SaskEnergy, made the announcement on Thursday in a video filmed on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

The province stopped collecting the federal tax on home heating after Ottawa offered an exemption on the tax for homes heated with oil. That exemption applies largely to Atlantic provinces, but not Saskatchewan where natural gas and electricity are the most common forms of home heating.

That prompted calls of unfairness from Duncan.

“In addition to not collecting the carbon tax on SaskEnergy bills, the Government of Saskatchewan will not be remitting the federal carbon tax on natural gas that Saskatchewan families have used to heat their homes,” Duncan explained in the video posted on Premier Scott Moe’s social media.

40 years ago in Ottawa, Pierre Trudeau took a walk in the snow and decided to step down as Prime Minister.

Yesterday in Ottawa, SaskEnergy Minister Dustin Duncan took a walk in the wind and rain and made an important decision about remitting the carbon tax. pic.twitter.com/N3HenTjLjA

— Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) February 29, 2024

“This is a decision that we do not take lightly, and we recognize that it may come with consequences. This is why in December of last year the Saskatchewan Legislature unanimously passed a law that gives our government – and me as minister – the exclusive responsibility for compliance with the federal carbon tax on home heating.”

The decision breaks federal law, but Duncan said the government’s moves mean that he will shoulder the responsibility.

“I guess if it comes to that point where somebody’s going to carbon jail, it likely will be me,” Duncan said in a previous interview.

According to Duncan, the decision to drop the carbon tax from home heating is expected to save the average Saskatchewan household about $400 in 2024. Statistics Canada says the decision helped reduce the province’s inflation rate in January.

“In addition to affordability, this is also about fairness, and our government refusing to allow (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau to treat Saskatchewan people like second-class citizens,” Duncan said.

The minister called the carbon tax a “disaster,” saying it has driven up costs without reducing emissions.

“The real solution would be for Trudeau to scrap the carbon tax on everyone and everything. But until that happens, Saskatchewan families won’t pay the Trudeau carbon tax on their household SaskEnergy bill and the federal government won’t receive those amounts from our government either,” Duncan said.

The federal government hasn’t said what it will do in response, but has said the carbon pricing program needs to remain revenue neutral and noted it expects all provinces to follow the law.

The Saskatchewan Party government has been a strong opponent of the carbon tax since it was introduced, taking the fight against the levy all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

– With files from The Canadian Press