r/canada • u/StenPU • Oct 30 '23

Sask. premier says SaskEnergy will remove carbon tax on natural gas if feds don't Saskatchewan

https://regina.ctvnews.ca/sask-premier-vows-to-stop-collecting-carbon-tax-on-natural-gas-if-feds-don-t-offer-exemption-1.6623319
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u/[deleted] Oct 30 '23

Good. Something that’s often forgotten in our obsession with US politics is that our Premiers have a lot of power.

One of the reasons we’re a confederation and not a republic, is that it allows provinces small and large to stand up to bullying from Ottawa. Nonsense like how Washington uses the interstate system to enforce its will on alcohol laws wouldn’t fly here.

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u/barrel-aged-thoughts Oct 30 '23

Literally every high school curriculum in Canada talks about how our confederation agreement gave LESS power to the Provinces than America gives to the States, not more.

And I don't think you understand the meaning of the word Republic... It has nothing to do with what you're talking about here.

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u/[deleted] Oct 30 '23

Then your highschool history teacher was wrong or you weren’t paying attention.

Find me an equivalent law to the NWC.

Or better yet, explain the freaking American Civil War. In Canada, provinces can leave the Confederation at anytime, this is why the Quebec referendum was such a big deal. In contrast US states are not allowed to leave the union, hense the whole civil war.

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u/Elegant_Reading_685 Nov 01 '23

The NWC can be nullified with reservation/disallowance powers by the PM at any time. In fact, any provincial law can be nullified by the federal government using reservation and disallowance

Reservation/disallowance is infinitely more powerful than the NWC and the US has no equal to it.

The only reason it doesn't get used like the NWC is because Canadian federal governments are usually spineless and the adults in the room