Sask. Opposition Motion to Pause Gas Tax Fails in Legislature

A woman pumps gas at a gas station in Mississauga, Ont., on Feb. 13, 2024. The Canadian Press/Christopher Katsarov

An opposition motion from the NDP to pause Saskatchewan’s fuel tax for six months has failed in the legislature, with the governing Saskatchewan Party saying it will introduce other tax cuts for residents.

NDP Leader Carla Beck pushed Premier Scott Moe on the tax during question period in the Saskatchewan legislature on Nov. 26, saying families need financial relief.

NDP leader Carla Beck pushed Premier Scott Moe on the tax during question period in the Saskatchewan legislature on Nov. 26, saying families need financial relief.

“People cannot afford to wait until tax time to have some cost-of-living relief. They need help now,” she said. “People can’t afford to pay their bills.”

Premier Scott Moe responded by citing several tax measures his administration has promised to implement to address affordability, including a personal tax cut and an extension on the carbon tax pause for home heating.

“What we are going to deliver is on the campaign platform that we had put before Saskatchewan residents over the course of the most recent provincial campaign,” Moe said in the legislature. “Included in that campaign are a number of tax incentives, tax reductions for Saskatchewan families, which are going to ensure that Saskatchewan remains the most affordable place in the nation to live.”

Moe argued that Beck should push the federal NDP to get rid of the carbon tax.

Beck said the premier already knows her party does not support the carbon tax because it supported the Sask. Party’s move last year to stop collecting the tax on home heating.

“What Saskatchewan people are looking for are measures that are going to allow them to put Christmas gifts under the [tree],” Beck later told reporters.

Moe said he was hoping to bring forward legislation to address his party’s tax cut promises in the current legislative sitting. He said if the measures pass, residents could start to see savings in early 2025.

The legislature session resumed this week after the Oct. 28 provincial election saw Moe re-elected with a smaller majority government. The Sask. Party lost eight seats in the election, while the NDP picked up 13.

Neighbouring Alberta paused the gas tax for a year in 2023. It was reintroduced at 9 cents per litre in the first three months of 2024 and was then increased to 13 cents per litre.

In Manitoba, the fuel tax was paused in January, with an extension on that pause until Dec. 31, the government said in a Sept. 25 news release.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is looking to extend the province’s temporary cuts on the gas and fuel tax until June 2025. Fuel tax rates are at 9 cents per litre in the province.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.