Sask government takes action on home heating carbon tax

Before, it was talk. Now, the Saskatchewan government takes action on home heating carbon tax.

By Brian Zinchuk

REGINA – On Oct. 30, Premier Scott Moe said Saskatchewan residents wouldn’t pay the carbon tax on natural gas home heating if those using home heating oil (principally in Atlantic Canada) were excluded from paying the carbon tax.

That was in response to a furor raised by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Oct. 26, when he announced a three year pause on the carbon tax for home heating oil, and a generous program to subsidize the installation of heat pumps during that time.

Moe said if the federal government didn’t make the carbon tax exemption fair for all in Saskatchewan by Jan. 1, SaskEnergy would not be collecting carbon tax nor remitting the carbon tax to the federal Liberal government.

On Nov. 16, words changed to action.

Minister Responsible for SaskEnergy Dustin Duncan introduced The SaskEnergy (Carbon Tax Fairness for Families) Amendment Act “to protect Saskatchewan families from the unfair and unaffordable federal carbon tax,” according to the press release.

The removal of the federal carbon tax from SaskEnergy bills, effective January 1, 2024, will save the average Saskatchewan family approximately $400 in 2024.

“Our government is taking the necessary steps to protect Saskatchewan families’ ability to afford to heat their homes this winter by removing the federal carbon tax from the natural gas bills of residential customers,” Duncan said. “This legislation will give our government, and me as minister, the sole authority and responsibility for decisions regarding the collection and remittance of the federal carbon tax on SaskEnergy bills while also providing protection for SaskEnergy employees and board members.”

The bill amends The SaskEnergy Act to designate the Crown as the sole registered distributor of natural gas in Saskatchewan, and invests all powers, rights, authorities, responsibilities and obligations for the purposes of Part 1 of the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (Canada), to the Government of Saskatchewan. These authorities include providing the minister with the sole decision-making authority to pay, or withhold payment, of any charge, tax, levy, remittance or other payment required by Part 1 of the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (Canada).

Under this legislation, the Crown will indemnify SaskEnergy and all current and former directors, officers, employees, agents, members, affiliates, and other representatives from all damages, costs, charges and expenses, including legal fees, that the corporation or individual incurs with respect to any civil, criminal, administrative, investigative or other matter in which the corporation or individual is implicated in relation to the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (Canada), the Saskatchewan government said.

What that effectively means is that if anyone is going to be held responsible for Saskatchewan people not paying the carbon tax on natural gas heating, it’s Duncan.

The man in the hot seat on heating

Pipeline Online spoke to Duncan the afternoon of Nov. 16.

He said, “The intent of this is to mirror exactly what the Prime Minister did when he allowed a special carve out for Atlantic Canada, when it came to home heating oil. Obviously home heating oil isn’t a big use in Saskatchewan. I think it’s only about 0.4 per cent of people use home heating oil. The vast majority of heating fuel in Saskatchewan is natural gas.

“And so this is really just to mirror hat the what the Prime Minister has announced for Atlantic Canada.

“Obviously, we want the carbon tax gone on everything, for everyone. But I think people know, while we weren’t happy with the carbon tax and took it all the way to the Supreme Court. We were in compliance, and have been in compliance up until this point. And still, we are in compliance to this point.

“What the Act does allow us to do is that, because the premier already announced that come January 1, SaskEnergy will no longer collect the carbon tax, the obligation in the Act is to remit the carbon tax. And what we’re saying with this Act, that is for this very narrow part of SaskEnergy’s business, SaskEnergy will no longer be in the position to make a decision on whether or not to remit the carbon tax.

“Collecting the carbon tax has always been our choice. That’s not actually stipulated in the Act. It’s the fact that they have to remit the carbon tax ,and so we’re saying to this very, very narrow focus of the Greenhouse Gas and Pricing Pollution Act, we’re going to remove that obligation from SaskEnergy, and place it onto the government. So that if we decide, as a government not to remit, then that’s our decision, not SaskEnergy’s. And therefore, what we’re saying is that the consequences should flow to the government, to me as minister, and not to the board, not to the officers, not to the employees of SaskEnergy.

“And so, the other part of this, though, is providing that indemnity, in the event that the federal government decides to challenge us on this. If we decide not to remit at some point in the future, that the employees, the officers, the board of SaskEnergy, are indemnified. This is going to be our decision. And so, if there are consequences, then those consequences should be borne by us, not by the people that work in SaskEnergy.”

Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault has pointed out there could be criminal charges involved for defying the carbon tax. Saskatchewan’s move, if passed, would theoretically place all blame on the minister, in this case, Dustin Duncan.

While natural gas provided through SaskEnergy does indeed, provide heating for the vast majority of Saskatchewan residents, there are those who do not have natural gas heat. Especially in rural areas or on First Nations, natural gas might not be available or be prohibitively expensive to connect to. Propane is often used in situations like this, but so, too, is electrical heat. And for electrical, meters don’t differentiate if power is being used for heating or running your laptop.

Will Saskatchewan move to eliminate the carbon tax in those cases? Duncan replied, “That’s why we’re asking for fairness from the federal government, to just extend what they did in Atlantic Canada to the rest of Canada.

“The challenge with all those different sources is that the reason we can do this, or attempt to do this, whereas other provinces can’t, and have admitted that they can’t is the province owns the Crown Corporation. So that gives us a mechanism to try to take this step. But it’s not going to help all those individuals that are on other forms of heating fuel.

“The other thing to remember about this, is that if you look at the rationale that the prime minister gave, he wanted to get people in Atlantic Canada, and now I guess that’s extended to all Canadians that are on heating oil, he wants to get them off of heating oil. It’s expensive, it’s a dirty form of energy, etc, etc.

“Saskatchewan already did that when it came to our heating fuel, when we large-scale converted to natural gas back in the 1980s, which was in the hundreds of millions of dollars back then, which would equate to probably somewhere close to half to a billion dollars. So, we’ve already made that choice in Saskatchewan. We shouldn’t be penalized here. But the problem with the small number of people that use other forms of heating sources, is that we can do this on natural gas because we own the Crown. We’re limited in what we can do on other forms, such as people that are on propane.”

The province does, however, also own SaskPower as a Crown corporation which charges carbon tax. And for those using electric heat, Duncan, who is also SaskPower minister, said, “SaskPower is providing information to me on what that would look like, in terms of the number of people, the cost, as well as how we would actually do that, if we want to extend that to them. So, our intent is to extend that to people on electric heat. But we’re still working through without what exactly look like.”

Duncan noted calculations of average usage and based on assumptions would have to be factors when it comes to electric heat.

NDP response

The New Democratic Party took a different approach, questioning ministers in Question Period why the government wouldn’t provide relief through a six month freeze in application of fuel taxes.

Doing so would provide almost the same level of relief as if the federal government paused the carbon tax on gasoline and diesel for six months, except there has been no indication it would do so.

NDP MLA for Regina Rosemont Trent Wotherspoon introduced a motion which, “calls upon the government to suspend the collection of the provincial fuel tax from gasoline and diesel for a period of six months in order to help families struggling with the high cost of living.”

The province collects 15 cents per litre on gasoline and diesel, nine cents per litre on propane and 1.5 cents per litre on aviation gas and jet fuel. Wotherspoon said doing so would save families over $350 over six months. However, the motion was at the end of the day’s sitting and debate was adjourned until Nov. 20.

Wotherspoon told reporters, “We know Saskatchewan people are in serious financial hardship right now facing the crushing cost of living and, and frankly, a provincial government, the Sask Party, that’s made things worse on front after front, and has offered no recognition to the challenge that families are facing, the pressure that they’re under.”

He added, “We’re calling on the Sask Party to not only support that motion, but to act on this front right now, and to provide relief to families across Saskatchewan. We know that this would save real dollars for real families across Saskatchewan, more than $350 in this year.

“And we know that they’re facing serious pressure at the pumps, and on so many fronts. This is one area that the government could act, to offer some relief. And we know the challenge that filling the tank is for so many families, when it’s a necessity, to get to work or to get kids to activities or get to town, so many other situations. So this is one measure that would offer some relief to Saskatchewan families now.”

He said the NDP is disappointed the government hasn’t taken up their call, saying, “But it doesn’t surprise me, because this is a government that tries to deny the reality that so many families are facing across Saskatchewan, day in, day out. Financial hardship, from the crushing cost of living, is something that families know all too well. And we have a government that Sask Party government that has piled on and made matters worse. With big tax hikes for Saskatchewan people three power hikes in the last year and no meaningful relief. They’re really out of touch with the reality that families are facing. This is one measure that this government could support and act on to save families real money right now.”

However, when it comes to the carbon tax, Wotherspoon said, “We’ve been clear we don’t support the carbon tax, we won’t support the divisive and inappropriate actions of the federal government and and we think we should push back on that front. But this provincial government should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, they should be able to push back for fairness against an unfair carbon tax and to ensure fairness and relief for Saskatchewan families. And then they should act in a way that they can today to provide relief for Saskatchewan families by canceling the gas and diesel tax.”