Sask. offers support to Alberta’s carbon tax challenge

The Government of Saskatchewan has filed a written submission of facts to support Alberta’s court challenge of the federal government’s carbon tax.

“Saskatchewan stands with Alberta and the hard-working people in the natural resources sector in opposition to the federal carbon tax,” Don Morgan, Saskatchewan’s justice minister and attorney general, said in a media release issued by the provincial government.

“The carbon tax is a dramatic and unconstitutional overreach that ultimately tips the balance of power in Canada toward the federal government.”

Saskatchewan has gone to court to challenge the carbon tax. The province lost in Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal in May, prompting the Sask. Party government to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The province maintains it’s unconstitutional for the federal government to impose a carbon tax on specific provinces to create a pattern of behaviour.

“The carbon tax legislation singles out provinces for special treatment based on decisions we have made that clearly fall under our own jurisdiction,” Morgan said in the release. “And a tax that applies to some provinces and not others is blatantly unconstitutional.”

The province’s appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada is set for March 17-18. Alberta’s challenge is to be heard Dec. 16-18 by the Alberta Court of Appeal.

Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba and New Brunswick have shown opposition to the carbon tax.