Sask. Heavy Construction Association against carbon tax

The heavy construction industry has voiced their opposition to the liberal government’s planned carbon tax.

The tax was announced earlier this month and has received criticism from the Saskatchewan government.

President of the Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association, Shantell Lipp, is concerned about the timing of the proposed tax and is saying there are not a lot of options for environmentally friendly alternatives at the moment.

“A lot of our guys, their operations are running on diesel, they’re running on propane, there’s not a lot of extra options out there for our industry,” Lipp said.

The association is recommending that the depreciation of older equipment becomes accelerated.

“In Canada, a lot of the firms hang on to their equipment longer than they would in the U.S. because of the depreciation policy. If we can cut that in half, it’s an incentive to have the industry turn over their older models of equipment and begin to start purchasing newer models of equipment with the tier four engines in them.”

Lipp said the industry will look at cutting costs to try and absorb the taxes rather than make changes.

The carbon tax would take effect in 2018, starting at $10 per tonne and growing to $50 per tonne by 2022.