Carbon Levy Program for industrial emitters:
Saskatchewan’s Carbon Levy Program for industrial emitters lacks public transparency. That is one of the topics covered in the 300-page Provincial Auditor’s report released today (Wed). Tara Clemett examined the Ministry of Environment’s processes to regulate industrial emitters through its Output-Based Performance Standards Program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Under the Program, industrial emitters exceeding annual facility-specific emissions intensity are required to pay a levy to the Ministry to fund technologies to reduce, sequester or capture emissions, but Clemett says the Ministry hadn’t yet funded any industry-driven technologies as of the end of last year.
Nearly half of the regulated emitters exceeded their limits for 2019 and 2020, but another issue is the Ministry doesn’t report the results to the public. The Auditor’s Report suggests the Environment Ministry needs to implement a robust data management system to be able to assess the program’s results accurately, so it can improve analysis and decrease the risk of information errors or fraud. Clemett adds that the Ministry also gives emitters a year-and-a-half to pay when they exceed their limits. She says this may have been reasonable in the beginning, but the time frame should now be reassessed, because earlier payments means more contributions to the technology fund to reduce emissions.
Emitters who join the program are exempt from the Federal carbon pricing system. Regulated industrial emitters accounted for about 16 per cent of Saskatchewan’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2021, and since then the program has grown from 80 industrial emitters in 2019 to 154 in
Living Sky School Division:
The Provincial Auditor states that since January of 2018, Living Sky has had eight student suicides, including three last year. From a survey last year, 32 per cent of students reported experiencing moderate or high levels of anxiety and depression, compared to 21 per cent in 2015. The national average is 26 per cent. A survey from the Provincial Auditor’s office found that 40 per cent of the students they talked to who were seeing counsellors, were in Grades 7 and 8.
The Division employed 12 counsellors, part-time and full-time, at its 13 high schools last November, but Tara Clemett suggests the Division needs to assess counsellors’ caseloads to see whether there is appropriate staffing level and where there isn’t, because the number of students per counsellor varies significantly. She noted that one counsellor was responsible for over 820 students at three high schools. Some of Clemett’s recommendations to Living Sky include formally tracking mental health emergencies like suicides and student deaths, writing critical incident reports to assist in assessing trends and root causes, and tracking student referrals to outside agencies and work with them to help the Division assess the level of mental health supports needed.
Tuberculosis:
The active tuberculosis rate in Saskatchewan has increased by 35 per cent since 2012. The Provincial Auditor’s office examined the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s strategies to prevent the spread of TB and states in the report that last year, there were 138 patients in the province with active TB and another 472 latent cases. Saskatchewan’s rate of TB last year was 10.0 cases per 100,000 people, which was more than twice the national average of 5.1 cases, and the highest rates are in northern Saskatchewan.
The Provincial Auditor says the Authority has effective processes to prevent the spread of TB, but there could be some improvement. Some of Tara Clemett’s suggestions include working with its partners like the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority to update the Provincial Tuberculosis Strategy to focus on current risks and trends, track and assess whether individuals are notified quickly about TB cases during close contact investigations to help reduce the risk of spreading the disease, and determine the most efficient and effective model for TB care. She notes that patients attended only 55 per cent of the in-per appointments booked in the last fiscal year and suggests looking at virtual care as a possibility.
Water Security Agency follow-up from previous report:
The report on the Water Security Agency with recommendations around unapproved drainage on agricultural lands was published in 2018. In this follow-up, Clemett states that Saskatchewan has a number of unapproved drainage works, and particularly works which don’t include appropriate mitigation measures to address flooding, water quality and wildlife habitat concerns. She says, “Not taking timely, effective enforcement action against unapproved drainage works increases the risk of further environmental damage, including to neighbouring farmland and wetland retention.”
Some recommendations have been implemented since 2018, but Clemett says the Agency still needs to finalize its policy on water quality and wetland retention requirements, so Agency staff can use this guidance to consider potential impacts when reviewing and approving applications for drainage works, otherwise they may not consider these aspects when approving drainage works. The Provincial Auditor would also like the Water Security Agency to report publicly on its regulation of the drainage of water on agricultural lands, including the number of requests for assistance received and any enforcement actions taken on unapproved drainage.
Click here to access the full report.
