Premier Scott MOE is stopping the Saskatchewan’s industrial carbon tax.
The decision is aimed at the carbon tax rate under the Production -Based Running Standards Program (OBP), which taxes large industrial emitters. The pause will enter into force on April 1.
“We have always remained from the first day against this tax,” Prime Minister Scott Moe said Thursday. “We do not believe it is in any way an environmental tax, but ultimately, avoid investment and improve the inflation costs that we are experiencing as Canadians.”
The province said the pause will save families and companies in the province hundreds of dollars a year.
On March 14, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that the separate consumer carbon tax will also be eliminated on April 1. The two changes in politics will make Saskatchewan the first province in Canada to completely eliminate any carbon tax, said the statement of the province.
The tax pause will complicate the budget projections of the Saskatchewan government. In its last provincial budget, the Government projected a $ 12 million surplus, but that included approximately $ 431 million in revenues generated by the ObPS program.
“We are going to have those details in the next few days,” said Moe on Thursday when asked at a press conference if the decision will put the province in a deficit.
Premier Scott MOE is stopping the Saskatchewan’s industrial carbon tax. The decision is aimed at the carbon tax rate under the Production -Based Running Standards Program (OBP), which taxes large industrial emitters. The pause will enter into force on April 1.
On why consultations on the impact of the budget did not occur before the announcement, MOE said that his government is “taking our example of federal leaders as they begin to support this policy.”
In a statement, the NDP leader of the opposition of Saskatchewan, Carla Beck, approved the elimination, but criticized the budgetary impacts.
“We need to make sure that our province does not stay behind at a time when we face tariffs and chaos in the global economy,” he said.