Saskatchewan is engaged in court battles with Ottawa over the carbon tax and equalization, the type of challenges this government once considered ‘dubious.’
A Western premier last week compared trying to collaborate with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s federal government with “beating our head against a wall.”
It hardly ranks as novel for a premier to engage in fed bashing, particularly when his government wears a different political stripe.
And Eby, like Moe, faces voters in October, so standing up to the feds provides a time-tested tactic. But the general vibe from the premiers provided some vindication for Moe’s near obsession with blaming all ills on Trudeau.
The Saskatchewan Party government seems content to let the feds try to solve the housing shortage, while it devotes time, energy and resources to fighting the carbon tax.
The province has offered to establish a letter of credit, a contract from a bank that guarantees the Canada Revenue Agency will be paid the money it’s due when conditions are met.
This time the challenge rests on a carbon pricing exemption for home heating oil, which benefits mainly people who live in Atlantic Canada, although it also applies to some in Saskatchewan.
The contention that the exemption is unfair and a crassly political move by the Liberals to try to shore up support in their Atlantic Canada stronghold is entirely valid.
Yet you must wonder whether any government truly wants to win a constitutional court case that lends legitimacy to people who want to disobey the law by refusing to pay their taxes.
Any tax system includes elements that stem from political decisions, which can be considered unfair.
However, since this case exists mainly for political purposes, a loss to Trudeau and the Canada Revenue Agency could provide more of an electoral boost than a win — although if tax court moves at the same pace as the rest of our justice system, any decision seems unlikely prior to the October election.
That probably suits the campaign strategy of Saskatchewan’s government just fine, too.
This harkens back to one of the first acts of the newly elected Saskatchewan Party, which was to drop an equalization lawsuit initiated by the previous NDP government.
Former premier Brad Wall called the lawsuit “dubious” in 2008 and stressed a co-operative relationship with Stephen Harper’s Conservative federal government.
Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
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