Readers offer their opinions on Saskatchewan’s carbon tax dispute, the upcoming provincial election and government support for farms.
Now that our Saskatchewan Party government has announced that it will not obey the law by remitting carbon tax revenues, we are left to wonder about a few things:
Whither the rule of law? Can the citizens of Saskatchewan now ignore laws they don’t like? Are we now free to speed, not wear seatbelts, use our cellphones while driving?
Whither climate change? Although our per capita emissions are nearly the highest in the world, can we now fiddle while the planet burns? This is especially depressing since the provincial NDP also want to end the carbon tax.
Whither the poor? Low-income people (who have the lowest emissions) receive more in carbon tax rebates than they pay in carbon tax. Will they now be deprived of this income on which they depend?
Is there more to come from the premier as he serves his right-wing agenda?
Don Kossick and Tim Quigley, Saskatoon
Winds of change blow in Saskatchewan
Finance Minister Donna Harpauer lurched from her den, stuck her nose outside, saw hundreds of picketing teachers and scurried back. This means seven more months of a Saskatchewan Party government.
While out, she presented a budget that was directionless, visionless and feckless, but also one she was “comfortable” with. Thankfully, the winds of change are blowing and will result in a new government led by people with integrity and competence.
Moe and his government will be relegated to the trash bin of history. No more playing footsie with the far-right nut bars who fear an invasion of transgendered children will sweep the province.
No more mismanagement of health care and education leaving the taxpayers sick, sad and embarrassed. Oct. 28 can’t come soon enough.
Tim Krause, Saskatoon
Subsidies drive rise in farmland prices
Farm Credit Canada (FCC) reports that Saskatchewan farmland prices increased an average of 14.2 per cent in 2022 and another 15.7 per cent in 2023.
These lucrative farmland value hikes follow a nearly 600 per cent increase in the annual total of government payments to Saskatchewan farms in 2021 to $1.69 billion. That’s an increase from an average of just $292 million annually during the preceding five years.
This elevated level of total government payments to Saskatchewan farms increased even further in the following years, to $1.83 billion in each of 2022 and 2023, Statistics Canada shows.
FCC has been reported as crediting the increase of the average land price in Saskatchewan to those paying a premium where precipitation is relatively reliable. Farming in Saskatchewan is mostly big business these days, often involving land accumulations of 50 sections or more.
Gord Brock, Regina
(The above letter was originally published in the Regina Leader-Post.)