Province sees carbon pricing delays

Province defies Ottawa’s deadline

Environment Minister Dustin Duncan is questioning the federal government’s ability to put in place a carbon pricing backstop for jurisdictions — notably Saskatchewan — without their own cost on pollutants.

Ottawa has said it will impose a carbon pricing scheme on jurisdictions without their own on Jan. 1, but Duncan noted Thursday the federal government “hasn’t even passed legislation yet ... they haven’t tabled it yet.”

Legislation to do just that is expected to be introduced in the House of Commons by the Liberal government this spring.

Duncan’s comments came a day after the province missed the federal deadline to sign onto the PanCanadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change.

In refusing to sign onto that agreement, Saskatchewan is kissing goodbye a guaranteed $62 million from the federal government aimed at reducing emissions.

But Duncan made clear the province intends to still attempt to get the $62 million set aside by the federal government for Saskatchewan.

“Even though the federal government has indicated we wouldn’t be eligible, we still think we should be eligible,” said Duncan, adding the province will put forward projects that “would actually reduce emissions” to get federal funding.

Saskatchewan rejected the $62-million carrot but is also prepared to try to avoid a federally imposed carbon tax on the province’s taxpayers in 2019.

“None of what the federal government is working on really changes our plan,” said Duncan, who is in step with his Saskatchewan Party colleagues vying to take the matter to court if need be.

But Saskatchewan will have a price on carbon one way or another. The plan Duncan references is aptly named Prairie Resilience.

It does not include an explicit carbon tax. Rather, it lowers the threshold of what is considered a “heavy emitter” from 50,000 tonnes of emissions to 25,000 tonnes, which is largely the same as a policy the province advanced seven years ago.

It also calls for a “carbon offset” to be purchased by emitters to offset their greenhouse gas emissions, as well as a best performance credit for companies demonstrating low emissions or investments in reducing their emissions.

The initial reaction from the federal government on the plan was not a positive, meaning it is unlikely Prairie Resilience is deemed acceptable by Ottawa once its full evaluation is completed this fall.

Saskatchewan’s greenhouse gas emissions dropped 0.7 per cent between 2014 and 2015, according to Canada’s 2017 National Inventory Report.