Byu Bruce Cochrane.
The Chair of the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board warns the imposition of a carbon tax in Canada will put Canadian agriculture at a substantial competitive disadvantage.
Last September the federal government delivered an ultimatum warning, any province that fails to have a carbon pricing system in place by the end of next year will have one imposed.
Saskatchewan's Premier has vowed to fight the imposition of such a carbon tax.
Florian Possberg, the Chair of the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board, notes President Trump in the U.S. has changed the U.S. position from supporting a carbon tax to being very much opposed to it and the American producers are Canada's number one competitor in international markets so, if we have a tax and they don't, it puts us at a distinct disadvantage.
Florian Possberg-Saskatchewan Pork Development Board:
It is our hope that agriculture in Canada can avoid this carbon tax because we don't see it as positive for Canadian agriculture.
Our province is quite determined to make a stand both provincially and federally and so we'll see how this turns out.
It looks like our province is into a bit of a disagreement with the feds for the next couple of years but we're very hopeful that we can avoid this punitive tax.
We're in international markets.
If we only supplied a domestic market that was protected from international competition, perhaps this wouldn't be a big deal to us but agriculture, particularly that on the prairies, really depends on being competitive in the international market place so this is a big deal for us to avoid something that's going to really impede our competitiveness.
Possberg also points out carbon taxes have not proved to be very effective in reducing greenhouse gasses.
Source: Farmscape