Sask. gov’t approved for next step of removing carbon tax from home heating

The Government of Saskatchewan has been approved for the next step in its plan to remove the carbon tax from home heating.

The Canada Revenue Agency has given the OK to register the provincial government as the official natural gas distributor in the province instead of SaskEnergy.

Dustin Duncan, the minister responsible for SaskEnergy, said previously that it was a necessary step to stop payment to the federal government in case fines or charges are levied.

If SaskEnergy was still the distributor, it would be the entity responsible under the law to pay the tax and would be liable for any penalties. Now, it would be the minister responsible.

Duncan said that’s necessary because it’s a government decision, so the government should bear the responsibility.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of back and forth between Ottawa and Saskatchewan other than the forms being sent and the letter being sent back,” Duncan said on The Evan Bray Show on Wednesday.

“We’ve made it pretty clear that we were going to essentially give the same treatment to Saskatchewan residents as the prime minister gave to those largely in Atlantic Canada.”

In October, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a pause on carbon pricing for heating oil in Atlantic Canada. That doesn’t affect Saskatchewan much, as most residents in the province use natural gas to heat their homes.

In a video posted to social media a week later, Premier Scott Moe said he wanted the federal government to extend that pause to all sources of home heating across the country. He then vowed that the province would stop collecting the carbon tax on home heating if the feds didn’t offer Saskatchewan residents a similar break to that enjoyed by Atlantic Canadians.

The provincial exemption was applied not only to natural gas through SaskEnergy, but electric heat through SaskPower as well.

Customers in Saskatchewan are no longer paying the tax on their bills, but the rubber hits the road when it comes to government paying that amount to the federal government. Duncan said the province will decide whether to make that payment to the federal government in the next week.

Legislation to cut the carbon tax from home heating was unanimously passed in the Saskatchewan Legislature in November.

If the provincial government decides not to remit the tax, it could affect the amount people in the province get on their carbon tax rebate.

The federal finance minister’s office said the amount of those rebate cheques depends on how much the federal government expects to receive in carbon tax payments. If the payments go down, so will the rebates.