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'sspeechaddressed areas and policy he wants to take aim at if his party forms the next federal government, includingwhat 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 outof 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 thathis governmentwould attach conditions forfederal funding foruniversities based on whether they uphold the Charter of Rights and Freedoms section that guaranteesfreedom ofexpression, citing an Ontario court ruling in the case ofpsychologist and media personality Jordan Peterson. That rulinguphelda regulatory body's order that Peterson take social media training in the wakeofcomplaints about his controversial online posts and statements.

Moealso spoketo Saskatchewan Party memberson Saturday. The conventionincluded a review of his leadership ahead of a provincial election scheduled for next year, with Moe receivingsupport 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 hisgovernment would work more collaboratively with the federalgovernment if Poilievre won the next election, and the federal carbon taxand"myriadofpolicies" that are "impediments for the province" wereremoved.

"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 saidthat 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, oror COP28,in a few weeks, where he said "we'll be providing a platform for Saskatchewan industries to tell their stories."

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