Sask. residents will continue to receive federal carbon rebates, Trudeau says

The carbon tax rebates that people in Saskatchewan receive four times a year will continue, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The prime minister stopped in Saskatoon for a brief visit to Wanuskewin Heritage Park on Tuesday, when he also highlighted a portion of the federal budget announced last week.

That included a $5-billion Indigenous loan program, nearly $400 million for building or renovating health facilities, more money for First Nations post-secondary students, and around $900 million for Indigenous housing and community infrastructure.

The prime minister said he was happy to talk about how his government was putting a “price on pollution,” adding that despite the provincial government not collecting or remitting the carbon tax on natural gas for home heating, Saskatchewan residents would continue to receive their carbon tax rebates.

“Despite the disagreement I have with the provincial government here in Saskatchewan on them not wanting to pay the federal government what is owed, the Canada carbon rebate cheques going to families in Saskatchewan will not be impacted by the Government of Saskatchewan’s decision,” he said.

Trudeau also told reporters that a meeting with Premier Scott Moe was not on his agenda during this visit to the province. During his last visit to Saskatoon in January of 2023 to Vital Metals, the prime minister also said there wasn’t a visit planned with Moe.

“As we always do, we let the premier’s office know I was coming to town, and they said, ‘That’s good. We don’t need a meeting right now,’ or they weren’t able to organize a meeting right now. That’s fine,” Trudeau said Tuesday.

The federal natural resources minister, Jonathan Wilkinson, previously said Saskatchewan residents wouldn’t be getting a carbon rebate after the province announced it would stop remitting the levy on natural gas to Ottawa.

Wilkinson told reporters in February that the province’s move would hurt lower-income families in Saskatchewan, who would get more in rebates than they pay in levies.

On Tuesday, Trudeau noted the Canada Revenue Agency has “ways of ensuring” that money that is owed to the CRA is eventually collected and that he has faith in the “rigorous quasi-judicial proceedings” that the CRA uses.

The PM also touched on several aspects of the capital gains tax, which is increasing from 50 per cent to 66 per cent, including how farm families would be able to pass their farms to their children without being affected.

“We made a number of changes over the past years to make it easier for farm families to pass along their farms to next generations … We made those changes a number of years ago, and we’re going to continue to make sure that it is fair,” he said.

He did not elaborate on what “fair” meant, or what changes had already been made.