End of consumer carbon tax a big win for Saskatchewan truckers

The executive director of the Saskatchewan Trucking Association thinks the removal of the consumer carbon tax will save trucking companies thousands of dollars.

“Reducing the fuel costs is probably the number one expense that a trucking company is seeing today,” Susan Ewart explained.

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“On average, they were spending $15,000 to $20,000 per truck a year on carbon tax. So that’s a lot of money going out the door for that particular tax.”

This past week, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that the federal government will eliminate the consumer carbon tax on April 1, a move which is expected to reduce the price of gas by roughly 18 cents per litre. Canadians will still get their final carbon tax rebate on April 15.

Ewart said the carbon tax paid at the pumps was eventually passed down to those buying the products being shipped.

“Of course it’s passed along to their customers – so the shippers of the goods that sell groceries,” Ewart explained.

“This is definitely a relief for them.”

While the elimination of the consumer carbon tax will leave trucking companies smiling, they might not be out of the woods quite yet.

Ewart said tariffs from the United States could have major implications for the trucking industry in Saskatchewan.

“There is still a lot of uncertainty today in the marketplace because of what’s happening with the tariffs. Are they on? Are they off? What’s going to be impacted?” Ewart said.

“We just don’t know where we’re sitting yet today.”

Ewart said she’s worried that the tariffs could lead to job losses if shipments into and out of the United States slow down.

“There may be nothing to take down south or to bring back. We’re hearing from carriers that there could be issues with that. Of course, if there isn’t enough work, then there’s possibility of changes in the workforce,” Ewart said.

“They’ll look at other alternative markets within Canada and sort of maybe change a bit of their operations to weather the storm, but definitely the movement of freight, we might see a slowdown on that. But our carriers are not sounding the alarm bell on that here in Saskatchewan.”