On April 25, 2018, the Saskatchewan government announced that it has commenced a
"reference case" to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal,
asking for a determination about whether the federal carbon levy
will be "unconstitutional, in whole or in part." This is
part of the effort of the Saskatchewan government to avoid
implementing any carbon payment regime in the province. The
Saskatchewan government asserts that its own climate change
strategy, which does not involve a price on carbon, will be
effective in reducing emissions in the province.
As we discussed in an
earlier post, the federal government is moving forward with its
plan to impose a national minimum carbon price on those provinces
that fail to adopt their own pricing system either through cap and
trade or carbon taxes. Jurisdictions that do not have a system in
place that meets the federal benchmark will have to adopt the federal
"backstop" system pursuant to the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act (the
