Beyond the constitutional issues, APAS has long argued that the carbon tax will have a
disproportionate impact on farmers and ranchers as well as rural Saskatchewan.
APAS President Todd Lewis points to all the costs that producers incur which will be
impacted by a carbon tax, such as heating barns, drying grain, road transportation of
crops and livestock, fertilizer, rail transportation and other crop inputs and manufactured
goods.
“When its cold, we can’t just decide to turn off the heat in livestock buildings; when we
have a wet harvest like we did in 2018 we have no choice but to dry our grain with
propane or it will rot. These costs are not optional expenses and they add up,” he says,
also noting that the Federal Department of Agriculture has acknowledged that there are
few alternate technologies that are available to producers in these instances.
“As producers, we already look for every possible cost savings, because we can’t pass
those costs along,” Lewis says. “And if you reduce our financial ability to adopt new
technologies, it defeats the purpose of the carbon tax.”
APAS lawyers are scheduled to present their arguments this afternoon.
Source : APAS