SaskEnergy minister maintains carbon tax slash shouldn’t affect rebates

Minister Dustin Duncan, representing SaskEnergy, maintains Premier Scott Moe’s move to slash the carbon tax implemented by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won’t affect rebates in Saskatchewan. 

Duncan, the minister of Crown Investments Corporation who is responsible for all major Crown corporations, said though SaskEnergy will no longer be collecting carbon tax from residential customers, residents should still get a decent carbon rebate. 

The tax cut, announced by Moe in October to go in effect in 2024, is an initiative to give relief to the people of Saskatchewan from Trudeau’s hefty carbon tax for the next three years — after Trudeau himself offered relief on home oil heating, affecting just 3% of the population. 

The majority of Canadians who use oil to heat their homes are in Atlantic Canada and Duncan pointed out they not only kept their rebate — it doubled. 

“Not only did that not affect the rebates for people in Atlantic Canada, so there wasn’t a corresponding decrease in the rebates for those individuals,” Duncan told Global News Tuesday. “But at the same time, the prime minister doubled the rural rebate component from 10% to 20%.”

“So again, this is another issue that we’re looking for fairness,” he continued. “If Atlantic Canadians didn’t see a reduction in the rebates after the federal government exempted them from the carbon tax, why would Saskatchewan people in Saskatchewan see a reduction in our rebates?”

University of Regina assistant economics professor Brett Dolter disagrees. He thinks it’s likely Saskatchewanians will see a coinciding decrease in rebates.

“I think it’s been billed as a tax relief, but I think we also have to realize that it’s a rebate relief as well, which means we’re not going to be getting as high of rebates,” Dolter said, per Global news. “The way that the carbon price has worked is that that's money that’s been paid for charges on gasoline, diesel, natural gas is going into a fund and people get the quarterly payments based on their household size.”

Spokesperson for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Katherine Cuplinskas, said Saskatchewan families actually get more in rebates than they paid for the price on pollution. 

“The price on pollution puts more money back into the pockets of the majority of Canadians. In 2023/24, a family of four in Saskatchewan is receiving $1,360 back through pollution pricing rebates,” said Cuplinskas. “And, starting this spring, families living in rural communities will see a 20% top-up.” 

“Pollution pricing rebates, which are direct support to families, are contingent on a province having the federal price on pollution — a framework which has been upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada.”

In 2022, Ottawa received $172 million through carbon taxes in Saskatchewan. At the time, the tax was $50 per tonne. It is currently $65, and by April 1 it will increase to $80 per tonne.