Province needs new low-carbon strategy

Rural and Indigenous communities stand to benefit, Diane Adams writes.

Saskatchewan has a new premier and a new cabinet. Now, the province needs a fresh outlook on carbon pricing. It must include a made-in-Saskatchewan carbon pricing plan.

Early signals from Premier Scott Moe suggest the government remains ready for a war with Ottawa on carbon taxation. Fighting the federal government is a battle Moe won’t likely win.

While this approach might win political points at home, it will leave Saskatchewan stuck with a carbon tax framework designed by Ottawa. That framework won’t be tailored to the province’s priorities, such as protecting important industries like oil and gas.

Ottawa’s plan will be a carbon levy, like Alberta’s system. This type of carbon pricing is commonly known as a carbon tax, where taxes are collected on fossil fuels and high-emitting industries, and Ottawa decides how to redistribute the revenues.

Saskatchewan’s business community doesn’t think a tax is the right approach. In 2016, the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce surveyed their members about carbon pricing. Sixty-five per cent of respondents said they believe a cap-and-trade regime would be a better fit for the province if carbon pricing became mandatory.

Cap-and-trade is an alternative to carbon taxation. It’s the approach used by Ontario and Quebec. In this case, a province caps its emissions each year and companies trade carbon pollution allotments in a marketplace.

The new made-in-Saskatchewan climate plan, released late last year, already shares some elements of a cap-and-trade system. If that plan isn’t updated to include carbon pricing, we will all pay a carbon tax instead.

Saskatchewan’s rural communities and industries must be protected from the shocks of sudden price increases under carbon pricing and remain competitive with jurisdictions that aren’t pricing carbon, like the United States.

But if Saskatchewan fails to develop a carbon pricing plan, it also loses out on hundreds of millions of federal dollars earmarked for clean development through the Low-Carbon Economy Fund.

That fund, combined with carbon tax revenues, could help lay the foundation for a lower-carbon, resilient and prosperous Saskatchewan economy. For Saskatchewan’s rural and Indigenous communities, a long-term low-carbon vision is needed, unobstructed by short-term political gains.

In March, a group of Action Canada fellows (including myself ) will release a policy report called Friends in Low (Carbon) Places: Supporting Clean Economies for Rural and Indigenous Canadians. For this report, young experts in rural and Indigenous economic development shared their vision for low-carbon rural economies.

They said they want economies based on low-emission natural resource industries, including renewable energy, mining, agriculture — even oil and gas. They want economies and infrastructure that support goals like human health, a healthy natural environment, strong social connections and wealth.

They want rural economies that can compete in a global digital world but said poor education and basic infrastructure stand in the way.

They did NOT say carbon pricing stands in the way. They’re ready to compete in a low-carbon economy.

Saskatchewan’s leaders should call on Ottawa to deliver on the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)’s ambitious high-speed rural internet targets. The CRTC recently called high-speed internet a basic public service.

Saskatchewan should also ensure the federal infrastructure bank covers public transit, water, energy and transportation projects that benefit rural communities.

Infrastructure investments in low-carbon lifestyles and economies will make rural communities desirable and healthy places to live for generations to come.

Our new premier should demand the federal government act to close educational and economic gaps between Indigenous peoples and the rest of Canada.

The future of rural Canada relies on the success of Indigenous people and communities, and Ottawa has failed them for too long.