Sask. NDP renews call for Moe to pause gas tax over the summer

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The Saskatchewan NDP has renewed its call to pause the provincial gas tax as road trip season draws nigh.

Leader Carla Beck spoke in front of a Regina gas station on Wednesday morning, making her case that Premier Scott Moe should remove the $0.15 tax on fuel paid at the pump.

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She argued that many people in Saskatchewan are “breaking the bank just to fill the tank and a large part of that is the provincial fuel tax.”

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As the election draws closer, Beck said if Moe won’t pause the tax, she will, if elected premier.

“It’s something that would save Saskatchewan families hundreds of dollars at a time when they desperately need it,” she said. “If we are given the privilege of forming government in the fall, we will suspend the gas tax.”

Beck said the pause would be in effect for six months, at which point the party would reassess.

The call has put Beck in the same camp as federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and other prairie premiers who have issued some gas pump relief.

Both the governing United Conservative Party in Alberta and the recently elected Manitoba NDP have paused provincial fuel taxes this year, though Alberta’s came back into force in April. Manitoba has decided to extend its pause while Ontario has budgeted a pause until the end of 2024.

“I don’t think that this is a partisan issue,” Beck said. “It’s practical. It’s common sense.”

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The latest session of the legislative assembly wrapped up last week. Most, if not all, question periods throughout session began with Beck or a member of the Opposition asking the government why it would not commit to a pause.

Moe and outgoing Finance Minister Donna Harpauer would often field the question, touching on the average cost of living, rental rates and a lowering of income taxes.

The NDP forced a vote on May 2 to suspend the tax, which ultimately failed.

“We see the NDP finally come up with one idea. Again, no idea on how they’re going to pay for that idea,” said Moe on the final day of session. He went on to ask what program the NDP would cut to make up for the pause.

Earlier that week, Harpauer voiced the same sentiment.

“$500 million is what we collect in the excise fuel tax in Saskatchewan, and we’ve yet to hear the members opposite say where they would get the money,” she said.

Lashing back, Beck pointed to the Administrative Information Management System, a health authority IT payroll system that has grown from a proposed $86 million to an estimate $240 million before it has even been implemented, and called the government “out of touch.”

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“We have a small bypass around Regina that’s costing US$200,000 a day,” she said, adding this was a matter of priorities.

“This is a government that likes to spend … it is not focused on the things that are number 1.”

alsalloum@postmedia.com

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