Saskatchewan challenges feds’ constitutional right to levy carbon tax

REGINA — Lawyers for Saskatchewan and its allies warn that Ottawa’s justification for imposing a carbon price on consumers will erode provincial sovereignty under the Constitution.

“Giving Canada this degree of regulatory authority over (greenhouse gas emissions) will result in the limitless, intrusive federal regulatory capability over provincial affairs,” William Gould, for New Brunswick’s attorney general’s office, an intervener in the case, said Wednesday.

Saskatchewan’s legal counsel opened a two-day Appeal Court hearing saying the province’s challenge of a federal carbon levy is not about climate change, but divisions of power.

“This is not a case about whether climate change is real,” Mitch McAdam said. He said the question is whether provinces are “sovereign and autonomous within the areas of their jurisdiction” under the Constitution Act.

Ottawa’s legal position is that climate change is a national concern and the federal government has the power to impose a carbon tax under the Constitution, which states laws can be made “for the peace, order and good government of Canada.”

Alan Jacobson, a lawyer for Saskatchewan, argued Ottawa does not meet the constitutional test to use the rationale of a “national concern.” He said “peace, order and good government of Canada” has sweeping implications and should be approached by the court with caution.

“It’s radical and intrusive. It’s absolute and exclusive,” he said. “It wishes to displace provincial space that today exists over these areas.”