Perhaps my brain doesn’t work as well as it used to, but life in this great country of ours is more confusing than it used to be. I’m trying to mentally sort out Saskatoon’s future plans for household garbage, recyclables and organic waste and it’s complicated, for me anyway. I’ll think about it some more and try to tackle it tomorrow. Today let’s talk about the issue that’s confusing for all of us in Saskatchewan and that’s the proposed carbon tax and rebates. Our province is one of the four that hasn’t signed on to the federal government’s pollution pricing system so yesterday the Prime Minister announced we will have a federal carbon tax imposed on us. However, all of us will receive a “Climate Action Incentive” rebate which the PM says will give most families more money than we’ll have to pay in carbon taxes. He says funds will also be given to our cities, schools, hospitals, businesses and indigenous communities to help them become more energy efficient and reduce emissions. Premier Moe says the plan is a vote-buying scheme and the rebates estimated by Ottawa are flawed because they don’t reflect the realities of living in this province. The Premier is urging the federal government to hold off on the plan until the court challenges against it have been resolved. We all know we need to be more environmentally friendly to preserve our future but I worry whether any level of government really knows what it is doing.
That’s Coffeetalk. I’m Vic Dubois.