Majority of Canadians Support Saskatchewan in Not Collecting Carbon Tax on Home Heating

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe speaks to the media in Regina, on March 22, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu

More than half of Canadians say Saskatchewan is doing the “right thing” by refusing to collect the carbon tax on home heating, a new survey has found.

Fifty-four percent of those polled by Angus Reid say they support the actions of Premier Scott Moe and his Saskatchewan Party, with the majority of Canadians in every province except Quebec on board.

While only 41 percent of Quebecers support Saskatchewan’s decision to halt carbon tax collection on natural gas and electric home heating, nearly three-quarters of Albertans are behind the move, the survey found. Seventy-one percent of those polled in the neighbouring province said they supported the decision compared to 58 percent of Saskatchewan residents.

Support was also high in the Atlantic provinces at 61 percent and British Columbia at 59 percent. Fifty-six percent of Manitobans and 53 percent of Ontarians supported the move.

“A majority of Canadians (not just Saskatchewan residents) say our government is doing the right thing by not collecting and remitting the Trudeau-NDP carbon tax on home heating,” Mr. Moe said in a March 25 social media post.

Support for Saskatchewan comes just days before the carbon tax is set to rise from $65 to $80 per tonne. The $15 increase is slated for April 1.

In the ‘Wrong’

Not all Canadians are backing Mr. Moe and his government, however, including a number of Saskatchewan residents.

The number of survey respondents who believe the province is “wrong” in its failure to remit the federal tax is highest in Saskatchewan, with 34 percent saying they disagree with the decision. It was the only province to have more than 30 percent of the 1,602 respondents say that Mr. Moe is in the wrong, sitting at 10 points above the national average of 24 percent. The rate was double that of Alberta, where only 17 percent disagreed with the decision.

The higher than average Saskatchewan stat could be linked to Ottawa’s refusal to give residents a carbon rebate as long as the provincial government fails to remit the home heating carbon tax.

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson suggested last month that Saskatchewan households would not be happy with the province’s decision. He said that lower income families in particular receive more in rebates than they pay in carbon levies.

Mr. Moe responded by saying the province will stop paying the federal carbon tax entirely as long as the rebate is removed.

Saskatchewan’s premier has been one of the most vocal opponents of carbon pricing and made the decision last year to begin withholding the home heating carbon tax as of Jan. 1.

The province stopped collecting the carbon tax on home heating in response to the prime minister’s refusal to exempt all forms of home heating from the tax. Mr. Trudeau paused the tax for home heating oil last fall, a move that largely benefits Atlantic Canada, but does little to help residents in the rest of the country where the primary heat sources are natural gas, propane, and electricity.

Tax Outweighs Rebate

Mr. Trudeau has maintained that four out of five households in federally carbon-taxed provinces earn more back in rebates than they pay in taxes. Canadians do not agree. The poll found that 45 percent of Canadians believe they pay more in taxes than they receive back in rebates. Nineteen percent of those surveyed said the rebate was a benefit, while 12 percent said they break even, and 24 percent were unsure.

“With affordability a high priority, support for the carbon tax is likely further hindered by the majority belief that it is making life more expensive for Canadians,” the poll authors wrote. “Two-thirds said either the carbon tax is making their life “a lot” (40 percent) or “a little” (26 percent) more costly. Fewer than one-in-five (18 percent) say it makes no difference to their day-to-day expenses.”

Fifty-six percent of respondents said that cost-of-living concerns should be the government’s priority, even if that comes at the expense of climate change policies. Those between the ages of 35–64 were especially adamant about that point with 63 percent of respondents in that demographic listing cost of living as the higher priority.

Canadians largely labelled the carbon tax as an inefficient way to lower greenhouse gas emissions, the poll found. Sixty-eight percent said the tax was “not at all effective” or “not very effective” in reducing Canada’s emissions.

Canada’s carbon tax is the price placed on the carbon content of fuels to reduce CO2 emissions. The federal Liberals describe the carbon tax as a necessity to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Carbon pricing kicked off in 2019 at $20 per tonne and rose to $50 per tonne in 2022. The price is set to rise $15 per tonne every year until it eventually reaches $170 per tonne in 2030.