Pierre Poilievre, Scott Moe slam carbon tax at Sask. Party convention

Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is praising Saskatchewan's premier and finance minister for the province's fight against the federal government's carbon pricing efforts.

His remarks on Premier Scott Moe's government came on Saturday during an address to delegates at the provincial Saskatchewan Party convention in Regina.

Poilievre said his predecessor at the helm of the federal Tories and Moe both warned Canada the tax would be a disaster, adding Saskatchewan Finance Minister Donna Harpauer pulled other provincial finance ministers together on Friday to confront their federal counterpart, Chrystia Freeland, about the tax during a conference call.

Freeland said the call was convened at the request of Ontario to discuss the possibility of Alberta withdrawing from the Canada Pension Plan.

But finance ministers pushed to discuss the carbon tax after the Liberals decided to pause it on home heating oil, but not other types of heating.

Aside from the carbon tax, Poilievre's speech addressed areas and policy he wants to take aim at if his party forms the next federal government, including what he said would be a focus on "capping spending with a common-sense law called the dollar-for-dollar law."

"Every time the government brings in a new a dollar of spending, by law it will be required to find a dollar of savings to pay for it," said Poilievre.

The Conservative leader also said as prime minister, he would cut "waste out of the system," starting with getting rid of the ArriveCan app —an app that was designed during the COVID-19 pandemic for travellers to show their vaccination status. 

Poilievre endorsed liquification facilities for natural gas, as well as pipelines for both natural gas and oil.

He added that his government would attach conditions for federal funding for universities based on whether they uphold the Charter of Rights and Freedoms section that guarantees freedom of expression, citing an Ontario court ruling in the case of psychologist and media personality Jordan Peterson. That ruling upheld a regulatory body's order that Peterson take social media training in the wake of complaints about his controversial online posts and statements.

Moe also spoke to Saskatchewan Party members on Saturday. The convention included a review of his leadership ahead of a provincial election scheduled for next year, with Moe receiving support from 97 per cent of party members.

In 2021, at the last convention, he also received support from more than 80 per cent of members.

Moe also said his government would work more collaboratively with the federal government if Poilievre won the next election, and the federal carbon tax and "myriad of policies" that are "impediments for the province" were removed.

"The economic autonomy policies [of the Saskatchewan Party] are just that — many of them are in response to federal policies that are in place," said Moe.

The premier said that if the various federal policies "disappear," the Saskatchewan First Act would not be required anymore.

That act says the province has the jurisdiction over exploration of non-renewable resources, development, conservation and management of non-renewable natural forestry resources and more.

Moe also said he's heading to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or or COP28, in a few weeks, where he said "we'll be providing a platform for Saskatchewan industries to tell their stories."

"The environmental record [and] the sustainability record that we have in this province is unlike any other region on Earth, and we should be very proud of that," Moe said.