Members of several pro-climate action organizations in Saskatchewan are celebrating the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling on the carbon tax on Thursday.
Groups including Regina’s EnviroCollective, the Regina Chapter of the Council of Canadians and Climate Justice Saskatoon are some that are echoing their support for the ruling.
Jim Elliott, a representative of the Regina Chapter of the Council of Canadians, said Thursday morning they are glad the Supreme Court sided with climate action.
“We’re happy this court case is over and that they sided in favour with the federal government being able to require climate action,” stated Elliott. “We just wish it didn’t take two years and a huge amount of effort to arrive to this point.”
Mark Bigland-Pritchard, a consultant with Climate Justice Saskatoon, followed Elliott’s statements by calling this “a day of celebration.” He said this means carbon pollution pricing can be driven federally, and fossil dependence can be replaced with clean, green renewable jobs and energy options.
“Now that Mr. Moe’s exercise in time wasting is out of the way, the federal government has more capacity to bend the curve down to net zero emissions,” he explained.
Bigland-Pritchard suggested the next step for the federal government should be to increase their ambition of emission reduction targets. He said the country should at least double their reduction target for 2030 from 30 per cent reduction of emissions to a 60 per cent reduction.
“The plan the provincial government has put together so would maybe, depending on how much the industry expands in this province, reduce our emissions by 10 per cent by 2030,” added Bigland-Pritchard.
“Let’s hope Mr. Moe is prompted by this extremely rational Supreme Court decision.”
Premier Scott Moe released a statement Thursday morning that the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision “does not change our core conviction that the federal carbon tax is bad environmental policy, bad economic policy, and simply wrong.”
Moe will be outlining measures that the Saskatchewan government plans to take in the coming months to protect residents while addressing climate change actions. His announcement is set for 12:00 p.m. CST.
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