The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act was enacted by Canada’s Parliament, on June 21, 2018. It establishes a federal greenhouse gas emissions pricing plan designed to ensure that carbon pricing applies broadly across Canada.

In April of this year, Saskatchewan launched a court challenge opposing the Government of Canada’s carbon-pricing plan.  We reported on Ontario’s decision to commence its own reference to the Ontario Court of Appeal and to intervene in the Saskatchewan reference, in our blog post of September 14, 2018: Ontario Files Arguments to Challenge the Federal Government’s Carbon Tax.

On Tuesday of this week, the Attorney General of Canada filed the federal government’s response in the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal. That response sets out the facts and legal arguments in support of the federal government’s  position that the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act is validly enacted under Parliament’s power to pass laws for peace, order, and good government on matters of national concern.

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has not yet set a hearing date for the reference, but it is expected to take place in early 2019.