Carbon tax fight, teachers' strike, travel costs mark busy week in Sask. politics

Saskatchewan's decision to violate federal law by not remitting the carbon tax on home heating kicked off a war of words with a fed‐ eral cabinet minister this week, but that wasn't the only spat the premier and his cabinet had to deal with.

The first week of the March sitting came in like a li‐ on, with Premier Scott Moe sticking to his carbon tax de‐ cision and then announcing a pre-budget plan to pay school divisions an extra $180 million.

Sandwiched between those issues was the Opposi‐ tion NDP flagging the cost of cabinet minister Dustin Dun‐ can's car service while on a November government trip to Paris.

Duncan, the minister re‐ sponsible for Crown corpora‐ tions, spent time recently in Ottawa, where he took time to record a video announcing the Saskatchewan Party gov‐ ernment's intention to follow through on its promise not to remit carbon tax generated through home heating to the federal government.

The province sent $170 million to Ottawa last year, and the total was expected to be higher this year.

Moe and Duncan have ar‐ gued since last fall that the federal government's deci‐ sion to exempt home heating oil from the tax was "unfair," and vowed to not collect the tax or remit if the policy was not extended to all forms of home heating.

This week, federal Envi‐ ronment Minister Steven Guilbeault said it was "im‐ moral" and "irresponsible" for a premier to decide not to follow the law.

WATCH | The At Issue panel discusses carbon tax on March 7, 2024:

"What if somebody to‐ morrow decides that they don't want to respect other federal laws, criminal laws?" Guilbeault said Monday.

"If Premier Scott Moe de‐ cides that he wants to start breaking laws and not re‐ specting federal laws, then measures will have to be taken."

Last year, the provincial government, with support from the NDP, moved the re‐ sponsibility of distributing natural gas from SaskEnergy to the minister's office meaning Duncan would be subject to fines, and even jail time, for not following the law and remitting the taxes collected.

Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told CBC's Power and Politics this week that his govern‐ ment will have discussions about the "consequences," and said he hopes the province "steps back from the brink" and will "actually behave like law-abiding citi‐ zens - but I guess that's up to Premier Moe."

"I think people in Saskatchewan and across the country should be appalled at that sort of behaviour from a provincial premier," Wilkinson said.

He previously said the province would no longer see rebates, but has since said those could be scaled back.

Losing the rebate would hurt lower-income people, said Wilkinson.

Moe has defended his government's decision, call‐ ing the tax a "silly, ridiculous and harmful" policy that "should be removed by either this government or the next."

The federal government's response that many people get more in rebates than they pay in carbon tax is flawed, he said.

"So is it about emissions or is it about wealth redistrib‐ ution? I guess that's a ques‐ tion you have to ask the fed‐ eral government. What we would say is it isn't reducing emissions," said Moe.

A decision from Ottawa to scale back the rebate and keep the tax off of home heating would be a welcome trade, he said.

"Pay less tax and get a smaller rebate - that's fine. Our goal would be to pay zero carbon tax."

Teachers unmoved by funding promise

Regina-area teachers marked the opening day of the spring sitting by striking and picket‐ ing in front of the legislative building, as the government and teachers' federation re‐ main at odds on finding a new deal.

In a social media video re‐ leased Wednesday evening, Moe made the fairly unprece‐ dented move to announce a budget promise of an addi‐ tional $180 million in K-12 education funding, with $45 million dedicated to class‐ room support.

Moe's announcement came with an ask for the Saskatchewan Teachers' Fed‐ eration to cancel planned job action, but the union instead pledged to escalate it.

Then, on Friday morning, the province said it had reached a four-year agreement with the Saskatchewan School Boards Association of nearly $357 million in funding per year toward "classroom supports as well as increased invest‐ ment into youth mental health resources."

The teachers say the stick‐ ing point in the ongoing labour issue is the govern‐ ment's unwillingness to in‐ clude classroom size and complexity within a new con‐ tract. The union has balked at the money for those issues being outside of an agreement.

"The minister has re‐ peated that the best deals happen at the bargaining ta‐ ble, and we agree," STF presi‐ dent Samantha Becotte said Friday afternoon, responding to the funding announce‐ ment between the province and the school boards asso‐ ciation.

"But his words and his ac‐ tions don't align, because that minister continues to of‐ fer agreements away from the bargaining table."

Becotte said the teachers' federation would return to bargaining under certain conditions, including that the divisions "cannot use these new funds for anything other than student supports."

The STF said the money needs to be restricted to stu‐ dent supports, because "un‐ restricted" money could be used to service debt.

Minister's Paris trip un‐ der scrutiny

The topic that took up the most breath in the legislative assembly this week was the Opposition's questions to Moe and Duncan about the minister's $3,500 car service bill on his November trip to Paris.

Duncan was there to at‐ tend the World Nuclear Exhi‐ bition to "showcase the province's nuclear capabili‐ ties and opportunities on the international stage."

Aleana Young , the NDP's critic for SaskPower, said tax‐ payers paid for a Mercedes to travel to meetings, and the trip was also used for "sight‐ seeing."

Young said a travel log showed Duncan using the car service after a visit to the museum that is home to Napoleon's tomb.

Duncan's itinerary showed he was to be on a tour of pavilions at the expo at the same time, she said.

Duncan said the itinerary item was only a placeholder. He also said he paid to get to the museum on his own and toured it during a break in his schedule.

"This was a work trip," Duncan said.

Young, however, charac‐ terized it as "another exam‐ ple of how entitled and out of touch the Sask. Party is."

NDP Leader Carla Beck called for an apology.

Moe stood in the house and defended Duncan, re‐ ceiving a standing ovation from the government caucus.

LISTEN | The Morning Edition's political panel on Paris shuttle costs, con‐ tract talks with teachers: