Chamber Disappointed With Carbon Tax Loss

“I think there was some disappointment. It is disappointing to anyone in business,” Rob Clark CEO of the Moose Jaw and District Chamber of Commerce said about the March 25th decision by the Supreme Court of Canada that it is constitutional for the federal government to impose a carbon tax on the provinces.

The 6 - 3 Supreme Court decision said the federal government has the constitutional right to impose a tax on greenhouse gases and thus dashing the hopes of the Government of Saskatchewan to axe the tax.

“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court of Canada does not change our core conviction that the federal carbon tax is bad environmental policy, bad economic policy, and simply wrong,” Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said in a statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision.

Clark said although he does not know which of the options now being floated around, as it was all new and needed a lot of study to determine the proper approach that is environmentally sound as well as not a job killer both locally and provincially.

At the present time the provincial government is working on a made in Saskatchewan solution to the federal carbon tax in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling.

One thing Clark is certain about though is the decision and likely resultant increase in the tax comes at a bad time due to the pandemic.

“Business, everybody if you want to be honest, are having tough times because of the impact of the pandemic. We haven’t gotten out of pandemic yet and increasing taxes right now is not the way to go,” he said.

“If we are having a carbon tax through the pandemic, I don’t think it is a good idea. The entire economy is struggling (because of the pandemic).

The carbon tax is something which could have major impact on the agriculture sector that is a major economic driver for the Moose Jaw region.

Dr Ryan Meilli, leader of the provincial NDP who spent a large portion of his childhood in Moose Jaw, has said the carbon tax needs to adjusted to give larger exemptions to ag sector including an exemption on fuels such as propane and natural gas used to dry grain.

Clark said the impact on the ag sector is large and could become much larger impacting Moose Jaw’s local economy.

“We thrive on agriculture,” he said.

Another concern for business - especially small business - is the true impact of the tax.

“Right now the understanding and uncertainty on what’s being compensated to businesses and what it means to business is tough for businesses,” Clark said.

“There are so many unknowns that need to be settled up,” he said.

The Chamber needs to do more research on the issue Clark admitted to form a better policy and strategy not just because the programs being planned to potentially replace the federal carbon tax need more research by business but also the Chamber has been putting a majority of their efforts into helping local businesses survive the pandemic, he said.