MP Rosemaire Falk and her conservative colleagues co-signed a letter to the Government of Canada, demanded a stop to different treatment of specific provinces. (File photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By battlefordsNOW Staff

equal treatment

Saskatchewan MP’s demand cooperation from federal government in letter

Jul 21, 2021 | 5:20 PM

Conservative Members of Parliament in Saskatchewan came together Tuesday in calling for the Government of Canada to respect provincial governance.

Rosemarie Falk, MP for the Battlefords—Lloydminster, Gary Vidal of Desnethe—Missinippi—Churchill River and the rest of the Conservative Caucus in Saskatchewan, co-signed a letter demanding fair treatment for Saskatchewan residents. This follows the Minister of the Environment rejecting the province’s proposal for an alternative to the carbon tax, which came about following the Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the tax.

Falk said it’s very disappointing to see the federal government not only dismiss the province’s proposal, but not work with them on a solution. The government has said no further submissions will be considered until 2023.

“Just having the Liberals disregard it and say ‘it doesn’t meet what we want it to meet and you can’t submit something else for two more years’, is ludicrous,” Falk told battlefordsNOW. “It’s unacceptable and the prime minister needs to be reminded that he can’t just do whatever he pleases. He needs to respect the provincial premiers.”

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The province’s MP’s elected in 2019 are all conservative members. Falk added that it’s telling to see Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dismiss the prairie provinces in a manner that allows for no recourse, with no attempt to find a solution with Saskatchewan.

“Even if they said ‘We want to work with you, this might not meet what we want, but can you come back to us and work on this?’” she said. “That hasn’t been the case.”

“[Prime Minister Trudeau] doesn’t care about national unity, he doesn’t respect provincial jurisdiction and he has no intention, him or his cabinet, to work with the provinces or territories,” she said.

Federal Environment minister Jonathan Wilkinson responded to Premier Scott Moe last week by saying that other provinces had been warned not to follow the New Brunswick model, which involved cutting the provincial gas excise tax. Wilkinson also said in a signed reply to the Conservative caucus obtained by battlefordsNOW on Wednesday that this is a general policy and not directed at Saskatchewan’s specific proposal.

In the reply, Wilkinson cited the government’s intent to strengthen benchmark criteria for the post-2022 period and in order to provide stability to consumers businesses and investors by mitigating the risk of rapid change, they don’t intend to stand down the federal system in jurisdictions where it currently applies until 2023. According to the document, the government will allow sufficient time to assess any proposed new systems against the new benchmark. Wilkinson also said Environment and Climate Change Canada only received full details sufficient for an assessment in May 2021.

Falk, in response to Wilkinson’s remarks last week, said it’s unreasonable that Ottawa expect every province to operate in the exact same manner when they have differing needs and differing landscapes and populations.

“Even in the cities, people are driving to see families, we don’t have the same public transportation,” she said. “So to just arbitrarily tell people what they have to do and plan to move the goal posts [in 2023] is ridiculous.”

Falk said that she has no idea whether or not this will result in any change.

“You’re guess is as good as mine,” she said.

Travel rules also different

Premier Scott Moe expressed further disappointment with the federal government on social media Wednesday, following the announcement that his province will be one of the only provinces without an airport accepting international travelers. Health Canada has yet to comment on why Saskatoon and Regina were not included with cities like Calgary and Edmonton in the expanded exemption on restrictions.

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cjnbnews@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW